Question: What are the fractional shares in the estate of a widower if the surviving heirs are three legitimate children and one illegitimate child?
Answer:
The distribution of an estate in the Philippines is governed by the Civil Code of the Philippines, particularly Title III, which covers succession. In the scenario presented, a widower is survived by three legitimate children and one illegitimate child. No surviving spouse is mentioned.
How is the estate distributed among legitimate children?
The estate will be divided equally among the legitimate children. They are each entitled to an equal share, known as a "legitime," which is one-half of the hereditary estate.
What is the share of the illegitimate child?
An illegitimate child is entitled to receive a share equivalent to half of the legitime of a legitimate child. In this case, if a legitimate child receives 1 share, the illegitimate child would receive 0.5 shares.
How are the fractional shares calculated?
Assume the total estate has been normalized to 4 shares:
- Each of the three legitimate children will get 1 share.
- The illegitimate child will get 0.5 shares.
However, the total number of these initial shares would be 3.5 (3 from legitimate children + 0.5 from the illegitimate child), not the normalized 4 shares for the total estate.
To distribute the remaining 0.5 shares, you would proportionally allocate it among the four children based on their initial shares.
Example Calculation:
- Legitimate child: ( \frac{1}{3.5} \times 0.5 = 0.1429 ) added to their initial 1 share, becomes 1.1429.
- Illegitimate child: ( \frac{0.5}{3.5} \times 0.5 = 0.0714 ) added to their initial 0.5 share, becomes 0.5714.
Conclusion
In this case, each legitimate child would get approximately 1.1429 shares, while the illegitimate child would get approximately 0.5714 shares of the normalized 4-share estate. It is advisable to consult with a lawyer specializing in estate planning and succession to ensure the proper legal procedures are followed.