Inheritance Claims by Parents and Illegitimate Children in the Philippines
(A comprehensive primer on the compulsory heirship, legitimes, and procedural realities that surround two often‑overlooked classes of heirs)
1. Governing Sources of Law
| Instrument | Key Provisions on Succession |
|---|---|
| Civil Code of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 386, 1950) – Book III on Succession | Arts. 960‑1105 (intestate order, legitime of parents, legitime of illegitimate children, collation, disinheritance, partition, prescription) |
| Family Code of the Philippines (Executive Order No. 209, 1987) | Arts. 887‑895 (updated legitimes), Arts. 176‑182 (filiation & proof of recognition), Arts. 979‑1016 (intestate order, representation, barrier rule), Art. 992 (no intestate succession between legitimate & illegitimate relatives) |
| Special statutes | ► RA 9858 (2009) – Legitimization of children born to parents later validly married |
| ► RA 11222 (2019) – Administrative Adoption & rectification of simulated birth | |
| ► RA 11642 (2022) – Domestic Administrative Adoption Act (simplifies proof of filiation) | |
| Rules of Court | Rule 73‑90 (settlement of estates, extrajudicial settlement) |
| Notable Supreme Court decisions | Diaz v. IAC (1989), Aznar v. Aznar (1990), Reyes v. CA (2001), Heirs of Malate (2014), Alcantara v. Alcantara (2015), Heirs of Don Wenceslao (2021) |
Hierarchy reminder: Constitutional due‑process guarantees apply, but the Civil and Family Codes remain the backbone of inheritance rights. Jurisprudence fleshes out gray areas—most importantly on proof of filiation, the “barrier rule,” and computation of legitimes.
2. Basic Concepts of Legitimacy
| Child’s Status | Legal Tie to Parents | Succession Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Legitimate (parents validly married to each other) | Legitimate kinship to both parents and the latter’s legitimate relatives | Full compulsory share; can succeed intestate/testate to and through legitimate lineage |
| Illegitimate (born outside a valid marriage) | “Natural” kinship to parents only; no legitimate tie to grandparents/collaterals of either side (Art. 992) | Compulsory heir, but legitime = ½ of a legitimate child; intestate barrier applies beyond the parents |
Distinctions among acknowledged natural, natural by legal fiction, and spurious children were abolished in 1987. There is now only one class of illegitimate child.
3. Parents as Heirs
Legitimate Parents/Ascendants
Compulsory heirs under Art. 887 (2).
Legitime (Art. 893‑894):- If no legitimate descendants survive, legitimate parents/ascendants get
- → ½ of the estate when they compete with a surviving spouse.
- → Entire estate if they are alone.
- Excluded when legitimate children or legitimate descendants survive.
- Precedence over illegitimate children in intestacy (Art. 978).
- If no legitimate descendants survive, legitimate parents/ascendants get
Parents of an Illegitimate Child
- Their right springs from natural filiation, not legitimacy.
- They are not listed as compulsory heirs per se, because a child seldom pre‑deceases a parent; if it happens, they inherit as intestate heirs (Arts. 998‑1009) subject to the same legitime rules above (½ if concurring with surviving spouse).
Adoptive Parents
- Adoption (RA 11642) confers legitimacy. Adoptive parents inherit exactly like legitimate parents; biological parents are cut off once adoption is finalized.
4. Illegitimate Children as Heirs
| Situation | Share in the Estate |
|---|---|
| With legitimate child(ren) | Each illegitimate child receives ½ of what each legitimate child receives (Art. 895). Example: Estate ₱6 M, 2 legitimate & 1 illegitimate child → legit child ₱2 M each, illegitimate ₱1 M. |
| With surviving spouse only | Surviving spouse: ½ ; all illegitimate children, collectively: ½ (Art. 895). |
| With legitimate parents | Excluded in intestacy (Art. 978) but still a compulsory heir in testate succession. If a will is left, their legitime (½ of a legit child) must still be reserved. |
| Only illegitimate children survive | They divide the entire estate equally (Art. 895 ¶2). |
Other rules:
- Barrier Rule (Art. 992): No intestate succession between illegitimate children and the legitimate relatives of their parents (grandparents, legitimate siblings, etc.). The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld this despite calls for reform.
- Representation (Art. 990): Illegitimate children may represent their illegitimate parent in succession to the legitimate grandparent only within the illegitimate line. They cannot represent across the legitimacy divide.
- Proof of Filiation: Any of four under Art. 172 of the Family Code—(a) record of birth, (b) voluntary recognition in a public document/private handwritten instrument, (c) open and continuous possession of the status of a child, (d) any other means allowed by the Rules on Evidence and jurisprudence. Action to claim is imprescriptible for living child; heirs have 10 years from death of parent (Art. 173).
- Legitimation (RA 9858): Once legitimated, the child is deemed legitimate from birth and completely exits the illegitimate regime.
- Administrative Adoption (RA 11222, RA 11642): Converts to legitimacy prospectively from issuance of order.
5. Computing the Legitime: Common Scenarios
A. Decedent leaves spouse + 2 legitimate children + 1 illegitimate child
Net estate after debts & expenses : ₱12 M
Legitime base (½) : ₱6 M
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Each legitimate child : ₱2 M (total ₱4 M)
Surviving spouse : ₱2 M
Illegitimate child : ₱1 M (½ of a legit share)
Free portion : ₱3 M (may be disposed freely by will)B. Decedent leaves parents + spouse + 3 illegitimate children
Net estate : ₱10 M
Legitime base (½) : ₱5 M
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Parents (ascendants) : ₱2.5 M
Spouse : ₱2.5 M
Illegitimate children : *NO legitime* (excluded in intestacy),
but if decedent left a will, each gets
½ of legit child = ½ (2.5 M / number of
hypothetical legit children).
Free portion : ₱5 M(Legislative reform bills seek to remove this exclusion.)
6. Disinheritance and Preterition
- Parents may be disinherited only on grounds in Arts. 919‑921 (e.g., maltreatment, abandonment).
- Illegitimate children may be disinherited on the same grounds as legitimate children (Art. 919).
- Preterition (total omission) of any compulsory heir annuls the institution of heirs but not of devises and legacies in a will (Art. 854).
- Reduction action: If testamentary dispositions impair the legitime of parents / illegitimate children, they may sue to reduce.
7. Collation, Advances & Estate Tax
| Item | Parents | Illegitimate Children |
|---|---|---|
| Collation (Art. 1061) | Donations by the deceased to children or descendants—not to parents—are brought to collation. | Gifts to illegitimate children are collation‑able when they concur with legitimate children. |
| Advance legitime | Allowed if made irrevocable and accepted in public instrument. | Same. |
| Estate Tax | Parents signing quitclaim must secure electronic Certificate Authorizing Registration (eCAR) from BIR. | Minors represented by guardian or mother. DS Form 1801, notice to RDO within 30 days from death. |
8. Settlement Procedures
Extrajudicial Settlement (Rule 74, Sec. 1):
- Allowed if no will + no debts + heirs are of age (or minors duly represented).
- Parents and illegitimate children must all sign the Deed of Extrajudicial Settlement; otherwise, partition is void as to the omitted heir.
Judicial Settlement / Probate:
- Recommended if heirship is contested (e.g., legitimacy in doubt, filiation unproven, disinheritance alleged).
- Special Proceedings under Rule 73 et seq.; publication, letters of administration, project of partition, court approval.
Small‑estate Inheritance Tax Amnesty (RA 11569, until June 14 2025):
- Waives penalties/interest; useful for illegitimate children belatedly recognised.
9. Recent Trends & Pending Reforms
| Development | Effect |
|---|---|
| House Bills nos. 2263, 7815 (18th‑19th Congresses) – “Equal Legitimes Bill” | Would raise the share of an illegitimate child to full equality with a legitimate child and abolish Art. 992 barrier. Still pending as of April 2025. |
| SC (En Banc) Resolution, Re: Revision of Rule 73 (2024) | Streamlines guardians ad litem for illegitimate minors in estate cases. |
| Growing jurisprudence on DNA evidence (People v. Fudlusan 2021; Heirs of Briones 2023) | Courts now routinely admit DNA testing to prove filiation, shortening trials. |
10. Practical Pointers for Claimants
- Secure documentary proof early. PSA‑authenticated birth records or recognition instruments save years of litigation.
- Remember the prescriptive clock: while a child’s action to establish filiation is imprescriptible, the heir’s action is not (10 years from death).
- Check for prior donations; they may erode the free portion and bolster a reduction suit.
- Watch the barrier rule. If you are an illegitimate grandchild trying to inherit from a legitimate grandparent, your only road is through representation of your deceased illegitimate parent—never directly.
- Use the tax amnesty window (until 14 June 2025) to settle old estates at minimal cost.
- Consider mediation. Estate fights between parents, legitimate, and illegitimate children are highly personal; alternative dispute resolution often preserves family relationships—and the estate corpus.
11. Conclusion
Philippine succession law strikes a delicate—and evolving—balance between blood, marital status, and public policy. Parents occupy a privileged but conditional tier: indispensable when no legitimate descendants survive, sidelined when they do. Illegitimate children are now firmly entrenched as compulsory heirs, yet still labor under the ½‑share rule and the century‑old barrier of Art. 992.
Legislative momentum and judicial empathy signal a drift toward complete equality, but—as of April 17 2025—the framework summarized above remains controlling. Whether you are drafting a will, lodging a claim, or defending an estate, a precise grasp of these rules—and their practical work‑arounds—will spell the difference between orderly succession and generational litigation.