What does a wife’s inheritance in a Philippine inheritance law?
The surviving legal spouse will have a share of her deceased partner’s estate
Is a spouse an heir under Philippine law?
Yes, a spouse is considered an heir and shares on the inheritance under Philippine law and is furthermore a compulsory heir.
A compulsory heir is an heir who inherits in both intestate or testate situations.
So, a surviving spouse inherits when there is no will.
And a surviving spouse still inherits when there is a will.
The main requirement is that the surviving spouse is a legal spouse and that has not been validly disinherited. A common law partner DOES NOT INHERIT unless there is a will.
Contents
- Is a wife entitled to her husband’s inheritance if he dies?
- When a spouse dies, who gets the house in the Philippines?
- Under Philippine inheritance law, who has more rights spouse or child?
- Under Philippine inheritance law, what are the rights of a legal wife vs illegitimate child?
- What happens if the legal wife and the children disagree on the inheritance?
- Is there a common law wife inheritance in the Philippines?
Is a wife entitled to her husband’s inheritance if he dies?
Surviving legal wives may waive their shares in favor of their children
Yes, a wife can inherit a husband’s inheritance under certain circumstances.
If the husband has already inherited the property before he passes away, the wife will inherit the property.
However, if the husband has already passed away before he inherits the property, the wife will not inherit the property.
So, whether or not a wife does inherit her husband’s estate can depend on the dates.
When a spouse dies, who gets the house in the Philippines?
A surviving wife inherits her husbands estate with her children.
If a husband dies, the person who gets the property is the surviving spouse AS WELL AS any children of the deceased.
A wife is a legal heir of her husband.
Any child of the deceased husband are also legal heirs.
So, for example, if the deceased husband has illegitimate children and legitimate children, ALL these children inherit along with the spouse.
This holds true unless one of the parties was validly disinherited. (Inheritance rights of a surviving spouse in the Philippines are fairly protected given that Disinheritance is costly to do and relies on very narrow grounds).
Under Philippine inheritance law, who has more rights spouse or child?
Consult a lawyer because Philippine laws of succession can get confusing sometimes
Both a spouse and a child of the deceased inherit and share the same rights as heirs.
However, the amount that a spouse inherits may be more or less depending on number of children, whether those children are legitimate or illegitimate, and whether there was a will.
Let’s take one example first.
If there was a surviving spouse, 2 legitimate children and no will, a 1 million peso estate would be divided equally among them.
However, if there was a surviving spouse and 1 legitimate child and a will, then Php 500,000 goes to the child, Php 250,000 goes to the spouse, and the remainder is the free portion for disposition by the will.
The amount changes depending on different factors, so please look at my article Compulsory Heirs to understand what is applicable to you.
Under Philippine inheritance law, what are the rights of a legal wife vs illegitimate child?
Illegitimate children get a smaller share vs legitimate children
The legal wife and illegitimate children are both heirs.
As illegitimate children are considered compulsory heirs in the Philippines, they cannot be removed without a valid disinheritance from a will (which is difficult to do.)
However –
How much the spouse inherits (also called the legitime of surviving spouse in the Philippines) depends upon how many children the deceased had and what their status was.
For example –
If there is a surviving spouse, 1 legitimate child and 1 illegitimate child, Php 500,000 would be given to the legitimate child and Php 250,000 each would be given to the legal spouse and the illegitimate child.
Now, if there is a surviving spouse and 3 illegitimate children and no will, the surviving spouse would get Php 500,000 and the illegitimate children each inherit Php 166,667.
The share of a wife in inheritance from her husband depends on the number of children, their status and whether there is a will and it can get really, really complicated.
Please look at my article Compulsory Heirs to see what applies to you.
What happens if the legal wife and the children disagree on the inheritance?
Everything can be resolved if everybody maintains an open mind
There is no easy solution for this.
It is possible to bring it to court, however, this is expensive.
It may be better to try to compromise with the other side.
Is there a common law wife inheritance in the Philippines?
Unfortunately, there is no law in the Philippines that make common-law wives heirs.
No, there is no common law wife inheritance in the Philippines.
A common law wife is not considered an heir.
The only way that a common law wife can inherit is through a will.
A will must be validly created and then must be probated in court.
Most wills are not validly done, so if you are doing this, please consult with a lawyer.
Note also that you have to prove the will in court meaning that you will need to go to court and pay court filing fees of roughly 2% to the court. So, the filing fee of a 1 Million peso estate is about 20,000.
Consider if you wish to do this as it is a long and costly process.
Scenario hoes like this, mr. Dave and Mrs Dave got married in 1960. They had 3 children . They also had bought properties during the marriage and cars and savings and tine deposits savings. Then after 40 years of marriage , Mr. Dave had secretly had an affair with a 20 year old miss Carla and had her pregnant. At the time they had a two year old daughter and a seven month old son, Mr. Dave bought a land and house in his name & his mistress and the name of their 2 children as owners of the said property. After 60 years of marriage with his wife Mrs Dave, the wife died. The following year Mr. Dave too got very sick and no cure for his illness , Mr. Dave was not finished settling yet her wife’s estate, secretively not letting his children with Mrs Dave , his savings , time deposit money , some condo unit he bought in secret, and the worst is the house and lot that was in his name and his mistress and their children who are now grown ups.
We would need to know more about the situation to comment. You can schedule an appointment with one of our lawyers if you would like to discuss the details and ramifications.