A foreigner can inherit land in the Philippines from a Filipino spouse but only under Hereditary Succession.

The Philippine laws that apply here are the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines and the 1949 Civil Code inherited from Spain. These cover the Inheritance Rights of a surviving Spouse Philippines.

 

Sections 3 and 8 of Article XII of the Constitution famously restrict the ownership of land by individuals to Filipinos and former Filipinos.

However, Section 7 of the same Article allows foreign citizens to own land by way of legal inheritance.

Section 7: “Save in cases of hereditary succession, no private lands shall be transferred or conveyed except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public domain.”

Note that Section 7 speaks of Hereditary Succession.

In legal speak, this means that a foreigner can acquire land through Intestate Inheritance, i.e. the default laws on Inheritance which are not transfers of ownership by way of a Last Will and Testament.

Or to make it clearer – a foreign national can inherit land from their Filipino spouse under Philippine Inheritance Law. BUT a foreign national can not inherit land where it has been left to them in a Will by someone who is not their deceased spouse.

The Philippine Supreme Court has ruled that a Transfer of Ownership to a foreigner by way of Last Will and Testament would be Unconstitutional.

“We are of the opinion that the Constitutional provision which enables aliens to acquire private lands does not extend to testamentary succession for otherwise the prohibition will be for naught and meaningless. Any alien would be able to circumvent the prohibition by paying money to a Philippine landowner in exchange for a devise of a piece of land.”

Ramirez vs. Vda. de Ramirez, G.R. No. L-27952, February 15, 1982

This means that Section 7, Article XII of the Constitution should be read in relation with the Philippine Civil Code’s provisions on Intestate Inheritance.

A Legal Spouse can inherit from his deceased Spouse, along with their children or the parents or siblings of the deceased depending on the exact situation.

Let’s go through the exact Philippine Inheritance Laws.

Articles 995, 997 and 1001 of the Philippine Civil Code on Intestate Inheritance are the specific sections to look at for an understanding of Inheritance Law regarding Inheriting from a spouse.

Subsection 4. – Surviving Spouse

Art. 995. In the absence of legitimate descendants and ascendants, and illegitimate children and their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, the surviving spouse shall inherit the entire estate, without prejudice to the rights of brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, should there be any, under article 1001. (946a)

Art. 996. If a widow or widower and legitimate children or descendants are left, the surviving spouse has in the succession the same share as that of each of the children. (834a)

Art. 997. When the widow or widower survives with legitimate parents or ascendants, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to one-half of the estate, and the legitimate parents or ascendants to the other half. (836a)

Art. 998. If a widow or widower survives with illegitimate children, such widow or widower shall be entitled to one-half of the inheritance, and the illegitimate children or their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, to the other half. (n)

Art. 999. When the widow or widower survives with legitimate children or their descendants and illegitimate children or their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, such widow or widower shall be entitled to the same share as that of a legitimate child. (n)

Art. 1000. If legitimate ascendants, the surviving spouse, and illegitimate children are left, the ascendants shall be entitled to one-half of the inheritance, and the other half shall be divided between the surviving spouse and the illegitimate children so that such widow or widower shall have one-fourth of the estate, and the illegitimate children the other fourth. (841a)

Art. 1001. Should brothers and sisters or their children survive with the widow or widower, the latter shall be entitled to one-half of the inheritance and the brothers and sisters or their children to the other half. (953, 837a)

Art. 1002. In case of a legal separation, if the surviving spouse gave cause for the separation, he or she shall not have any of the rights granted in the preceding articles. (n)

These articles should be read in relation to Article 985 of the same Code.

Article 985. In default of legitimate children and descendants of the deceased, his parents and ascendants shall inherit from him, to the exclusion of collateral relatives. (935a)

Given our scenario above of a childless Filipina wife who owns land in the Philippines, what are the Legal Inheritance Rights of the surviving Spouse should she pass away without a Will where he is a foreigner?

Answer:

Under Philippine Land Inheritance Law he can inherit her property (including land), subject to the shares of her surviving relatives:

1) If the Filipina wife were to pass away and none of her parents or siblings are still living, the foreign widower would be entitled to his wife’s entire Estate.

2) If the Filipina wife were to pass away and her parents and siblings are still living, the foreign widower would be entitled to half his wife’s Estate and her parents to the other half.

3) If the Filipina wife were to pass away after her parents had already passed away but her siblings are still living, the foreign widower would be entitled to half his wife’s Estate and her siblings to the other half.

 

There are other aspects of Philippine law you might consider in practice.

A foreigner cannot own land. But he can own the house built on it.

A thorough documentation of his costs and acquisition of the house in his name, amply corroborated by other evidence, can establish that at least the house will not be part of his deceased wife’s Estate.

This reduces the extent of his exposure to problems down the line should his Filipino wife die before he does.

It is quite difficult to circumvent the Philippine Inheritance laws so that the husband is the sole Heir.

Encumbrances are problematic.

And leasing to your Spouse is only possible if there was a Pre-nuptial Agreement with Complete Separation of Properties as the Marriage Regime. This is quite rare – and also leases are quite expensive.

You may want to read my article on Conjugal Property to understand what regime you married under.

 

Disinheritance of family members require specific grounds and can only be done through a Will and thus this would not fall under Intestate inheritance.

However, in a situation where the foreigner Spouse and wife have children, the property would then by inherited by them together.

There are more extreme scenarios of the wife executing a Will that explicitly disinherits other members of her family for strong reasons (check out Articles 919, 920 and 921 of the Civil Code), leaving her husband her sole heir. These should certainly not be the first recourse without strong cause when other legal ways can be put in place.

 

Atty. Francesco C. Britanico

See also: Philippine Inheritance and foreign Wills