Thursday, September 06, 2007

Right of representation among grandchildren

Here's a legal query from my client.
She is a legitimate child. She has illegitimate brothers and sisters.
Her father who was also a legitimate child (of her grandparents of course), just died recently.
Her late grandfather's estate, has yet to be settled.
She asks, can she inherit from her grandfather?
What about her illegitimate brothers and sisters, can they inherit from their grandfather's esate like her too?
Answer: She can inherit by right of representation, based on Artilce 981 of the civil code.
The law says, "Should children of the deceased and descendants of other children who are dead, survive, the former shall inherit in their own right, and the latter by right of representation."
But her illegitimate brothers and sisters cannot inherit, based on Article 992.
Article 992 says, "An illegitimate child has no right to inherit ab intestato from the legitimate children and relatives of his father or mother."
Thus, her illegitimate brothers and sisters cannot inherit from her grandfather (who is a relative of her father)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Editor,

When the grandparents, who are relatives of the father that died, willed a disproportionate amount of assets to the illegitimate children, is there a ground for the legitimate children to sue their grandparents or petition the Courts to disqualify the illegitimate children from receiving the share given by the legitimate children's grandparents?