Intestate Succession Philippines: Who Inherits When There Is No Will

When someone dies in the Philippines without a valid will, the Civil Code's rules of intestate succession determine exactly who inherits and in what proportion. There is no discretion, no negotiation — the law assigns fixed shares to specific relatives in a strict order of priority. For English-speaking families navigating this from abroad, understanding these rules is essential before you sign any Deed of Extrajudicial Settlement.

The Order of Intestate Heirs

Philippine law establishes a hierarchy of heirs. Each tier inherits only if no heirs exist in the tier above:

Tier 1 — Legitimate children and/or descendants plus the surviving spouse. Legitimate children are the primary compulsory heirs. If a child has predeceased the decedent but left their own children, those grandchildren inherit by right of representation.

Tier 2 — Legitimate parents and/or ascendants plus the surviving spouse. If the deceased had no children or descendants, the parents inherit.

Tier 3 — Illegitimate children. They inherit, but receive only half the share of a legitimate child.

Tier 4 — Surviving spouse alone. If there are no descendants, ascendants, or illegitimate children, the spouse inherits the entire estate.

Tier 5 — Collateral relatives (brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces). They inherit only when there are no descendants, ascendants, illegitimate children, or surviving spouse.

Last resort — The State. If no heirs exist in any category, the estate escheats to the Philippine government.

How Shares Are Divided

The most common scenario — surviving spouse plus legitimate children — works like this:

Each legitimate child and the surviving spouse receive equal shares. If the deceased leaves a spouse and three children, the estate is divided into four equal parts.

When illegitimate children exist alongside legitimate children, each illegitimate child's share is exactly half of what a legitimate child receives. So in an estate with one legitimate child, one illegitimate child, and a surviving spouse, the legitimate child gets 2 parts, the illegitimate child gets 1 part, and the spouse gets 2 parts (equal to a legitimate child).

When only the surviving spouse and the parents survive (no children at all), the spouse receives one-half and the parents share the other half equally.

What Foreign Spouses Need to Know

This is where Philippine inheritance law gets complicated for international families. Under the 1987 Constitution, foreign nationals generally cannot own land in the Philippines. But there is one exception: hereditary succession.

If a Filipino landowner dies intestate, their foreign spouse or foreign-born children can inherit land as compulsory heirs because the transfer is classified as involuntary — it happens by operation of law, not by voluntary sale or donation. The Registry of Deeds will issue a Transfer Certificate of Title in the foreign heir's name, provided it is clearly marked as an inheritance.

The trap comes with testamentary succession. If the Filipino spouse writes a will leaving land to the foreign spouse, the bequest is limited to the spouse's "legitime" — the mandatory share the law already reserves for compulsory heirs. Any will provision giving the foreign spouse more than their legitime in land is unconstitutional and void.

The practical takeaway: for foreign spouses, dying intestate can actually be more advantageous than having a will, at least regarding Philippine land ownership.

Common-Law Partners Have Zero Inheritance Rights

This catches many families off guard. Under Philippine law, an unmarried cohabiting partner — regardless of how long the relationship lasted — has absolutely no inheritance rights under intestate succession. No share, no claim, no legal standing.

The only way to provide for an unmarried partner is through a valid Last Will and Testament, and even then, the bequest cannot impair the mandatory shares (legitime) of compulsory heirs like children and parents.

Minor Heirs and the Guardian Requirement

If any heir is a minor (under 18), they cannot sign a Deed of Extrajudicial Settlement on their own. A surviving parent can sometimes represent them, but many government offices — particularly the Registry of Deeds — require a formal court appointment of a judicial guardian specifically authorized to act on the minor's behalf in the estate settlement.

This adds time and cost. The family court petition for guardianship typically takes one to three months and requires the guardian to post a bond.

Next Steps After Identifying the Heirs

Once you know who inherits and in what shares, the next step is executing a Deed of Extrajudicial Settlement (EJS) — a notarized agreement signed by all heirs, published in a newspaper for three consecutive weeks, and then used as the basis for filing estate taxes with the BIR.

The Someone Died in Philippines: English Speaker's Emergency Guide walks through the complete intestate succession rules and the EJS process step by step, including specific scenarios for foreign heirs, minor children, and families with both legitimate and illegitimate heirs.

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