SUCCESSION

-- a mode of acquisition by virtue of which the

property, rights and obligations to the extent
of the value of the inheritance of a person are
transmitted through his death to another or
others by his will or by operation of law.
HEIRS

-- those who are called to the whole or to an

aliquot portion of the inheritance either by
will or by operation of law.

-- the ability as well as the power to make a

will.

SUBSTITUTION
CODICIL

-- a supplement or addition to a will, made

after the execution of a will and annexed to
be taken as a part thereof, by which any
disposition made in the original will is
explained, added to, or altered.
REPUBLICATION

-- person to whom gifts of real or personal

property are respectively given by virtue of a
will.

-- an act of the testator whereby he

reproduces in a subsequent will the
dispositions contained in a previous will which
is void as to its form or executes a codicil to
his will.

WILL

REVIVAL

DEVISEES or LEGATEES

-- an act whereby a person is permitted, with

the formalities prescribed by law, to control
to a certain degree the disposition of his
estate to take effect after his death.
INTERESTED WITNESS

-- one who is incapacitated from succeeding

from
the
testator
by
reason
of
a
devise/legacy
or
other
testamentary
disposition therein in his favour, or in favour
of his spouse, parent, or child.
JOINT WILLS

-- a single testamentary instrument which

contains the wills of two or more persons,
jointly executed by them, either for their
reciprocal benefit or for the benefit of a third
person.
TESTAMENTARY CAPACITY

execution of the will or born after the death of

the testator.

-- restoration to validity of a previously

revoked will by operation of law.

-- appointment of another heir so that he may

enter into the inheritance in default of or
subsequent to the heir originally instituted.
LEGITIME

-- that part of the testators property which he

cannot dispose of because the law has
reserved it for certain hers who are,
therefore, called compulsory heirs.
COMPULSORY HEIRS

-- those for whom the legitime is reserved by

law, and who succeed whether the testator
likes it or not. They cannot be deprived by the
testator of their legitime except by
disinheritance properly effected,
RESERVA TRONCAL

PROBATE

-- a special proceeding MANDATORILY

required for the purpose of establishing the
validity of a will.
INSTITUTION
-- an act by virtue of which a testator
designated in his will the person or persons
who are to succeed him in his property and
transmissible rights and obligations.

-- the reservation by virtue of which an

ascendant who inherits from his descendant
any property which the latter may have
acquired by gratuitous title from another
ascendant or a brother or sisiter, is obliged to
reserve such property for the benefit of
relatives who are within the 3 rd degree and
who belong to the line from which such
property came.
DISINHERITANCE

PRETERITION

-- the omission in the testators will of one, or

some, or all of the compulsory heirs in the
direct line, whether living at the time of the

-- an act of the testator in depriving a

compulsory heir of his legitime for causes
expressly stated by law.
IMPERFECT DISINHERITANCE

-- a disinheritance which does not have one

or more of the essential requisites for its
validity.
RECONCILIATION

-- it is the resumption of genuine cordial

relationship between the testator and the
disinherited heir, approximating that which
prevailed before the testator learned of the
cause
for
disinheritance,
reciprocally
manifested by their actions subsequent to the
act of disinheritance.
LEGAL or INTESTATE SUCCESSION

-- that which is effected by operation of law in

the absence or default of a will.

-- when two or more persons are called to the

same inheritance, devise or legacy, the part
assigned to one who renounce or cannot
receive his share, or who died before the
testator, is added or incorporated to that of
his co-heirs, co-devisees, or co-legatees.
COLLATION

-- an act of retuning or restoring to the

common mass of the estate, either actually
or fictitiously, any property which a person
may have received from the decedent during
the latters lifetime, but which understood for
legal purposes as an advance from
inheritance.

-- a right created by fiction of law, by virtue of

which the representative is raised to the
place and degree of the person represented,
and acquires the rights which the latter would
have if he were living or if he could have
inherited.

DOCTRINE OF PRESUMED REVOCATION

-- where the will cannot be found following

the death of the testator and it is shown that
it was in the testators possession when last
seen, the presumption is, in the absence of
other evidence, that he must have destroyed
it animo revocandi.
DOCTRINE
OF
REVOCATION

DEPENDENT

RELATIVE

-- it is the separation, division or assignment

of a thing held in common among those to
whom it may belong. It includes every act
which is intended to put an end to indivision
among co-heirs, and legatees or devisees,
although it should purport to be a sale,
exchange,
compromise,
or any
other
transaction. It is not subject to any form.

-- if a testator revokes a will with a present

intention of making a new one immediately
and as a substitute, and the new will is not
made, or if made, fails of effect of any
reason, it will be presumed that the testator
preferred the old will to intestacy and the old
one will be admitted to probate in the
absence of
evidence overcoming the
presumption, provided its contents can be
ascertained.

PARTITION INTER VIVOS

SABINEAN DOCTRINE

-- it is one that merely allocates specific items

or pieces of property on the basis of the proindiviso shares fixed by law or given under
the will to heirs or successors.

-- impossible conditions and those contrary to

law or good customs are presumed to have
been imposed erroneously or through
oversight, thus, are considered as not
imposed.

PARTITION AND DISTRIBUTION OF ESTATE

RIGHT OF REPRESENTATION

the will invalid if it is proved that the will was

in fact executed and attested in substantial
compliance
with
Art.
805
(formal
requirements).

INTESTATE or LEGAL HEIRS

-- those who are called by law to the

succession either in the absence of a will or
of a qualified heir, and who are deemed
called on the presumed will of the decedent.
MIXED SUCCESSION or PARTIAL INTESTACY

-- succession that is effected partly by will

and partly by operation of law.
RIGHT OF ACCRETION

DOCTRINE OF LIBERAL INTERPRETATION

-- in the absence of bad faith, forgery, fraud,

or undue and improper pressure, defects and
imperfections in the form of attestation or in
the language used therein shall not render

DOCTRINE OF CONSTRUCTIVE FULFILLMENT

-- when without the fault of the heir, an

institucion sub modo cannot take effect in the
exact manner stated by the testator, it shall

be complied with in a manner most

analogous to and in conformity with his
wishes.

PRINCIPLE OF ISTANTER

-- the express revocation of the first will

renders it void because the revocatory clause
of the second will, not being testamentary in

character, operates to revoke the previous

will instantly upon the execution of the will
containing it.