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Presumptive Legitime

The document discusses the concept of presumptive legitime in Philippine family law. Presumptive legitime refers to an advance given to children upon termination of their parents' marriage through annulment. It consists of one-half the value of the conjugal property at the time of judgment. The framers of the Family Code introduced this concept to protect the interests of children from a first marriage in the event of a parent's subsequent marriage, by providing support during annulment proceedings and delivering their expected inheritance shares.

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5K views7 pages

Presumptive Legitime

The document discusses the concept of presumptive legitime in Philippine family law. Presumptive legitime refers to an advance given to children upon termination of their parents' marriage through annulment. It consists of one-half the value of the conjugal property at the time of judgment. The framers of the Family Code introduced this concept to protect the interests of children from a first marriage in the event of a parent's subsequent marriage, by providing support during annulment proceedings and delivering their expected inheritance shares.

Uploaded by

michellouise17
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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PRESUMPTIVE LEGITIME

1. One of the innovations of the Family Code ( meaning, it is not found


in the Civil Code) is the concept of presumptive legitime.

2. What is presumptive legitime? ( NOTE THAT THERE IS NO EXACT


DEFINITION IN THE FAMILY CODE.)

ANSWER: An advance on the legitime given to the children upon the


termination of their parents’ marriage by annulment or declaration of void
marriages under Article 43 in relation to Article 44, which consists of one-
half of the value of the conjugal property of the spouses as of the date of
the final judgment.

3. Why did the Framers of the Family Code come up with this?

NOTE: You read and understand the discussion of the framers of the
Family Code. Consider the spirit and intent of the Law:

We have delved into the spirit and intent behind the


delivery of the presumptive legitime. The minutes of the Civil
Code Revision Committee and the Family Code Committee on
July 28, 1984 and August 11, 1984 reveal that the main
interest of the framers of the Family Code was to protect
the interests of the children of the first marriage by
providing not only for their support in the annulment
proceedings but also for the delivery of their
presumptive legitimes.

4. READ AND UNDERSTAND, the Minutes of the Committee on July 28,


1984 quoted hereunder:

“Justice (Jose B. L.) Reyes posed the question: Suppose the


judgment has become final but the parties have not delivered the
legitime to the children, can the former spouse remarry? Or it is
enough that the judgment of annulment should become final that
the former spouses can remarry subject only to execution of the
distribution.

Justice Reyes pointed out that the problem here is if the former
spouses remarry before the delivery of the legitime to the
children, there may be other intervening interests.

Director (now Supreme Court Justice Flerida Ruth) Romero raised


a counter-question. Suppose they do remarry, what is the status
of the marriage? Justice Reyes replied that the marriage is void.

Director Romero opined that upon the judgment of nullity, the


former spouses should already be qualified to remarry. Justice
Reyes remarked that unless the condition is fulfilled, they should
not be allowed to remarry since, otherwise, there will later be
complications in liquidation. The other members, however, were
of the view that since the delivery of the legitime to the children
may take sometime, the parties should already be qualified to
remarry. Justice Reyes pointed out that they are trying to protect
the children of the first marriage.

Judge (now retired Justice of the Court of Appeals Leonor Ines)


Luciano remarked that the delivery of the property has nothing to
do with the decree of annulment. Justice Reyes explained that his
point is if they are allowed to remarry before the delivery of the
legitimes, the said delivery will inevitably be delayed.”

The Minutes of the Committee on August 11, 1984, are quoted


hereunder.

“With respect to Article 141, Justice (Eduardo) Caguioa put into


question the soundness of the requirement regarding the delivery
of the presumptive legitime. He remarked that it is good in the
case of legal separation but in the case of annulment it will
prevent the aggrieved party from having the marriage annulled
since if the other party does not comply with the requirement, the
marriage will not be annulled. Director Romero pointed out that
as Justice Reyes said last time, before the spouses contract a
subsequent marriage, they want to be very sure that the legitimes
of the children are protected.

Justice Caguioa countered this will put the innocent party at the
mercy of the guilty one.

Dean (Fortunato) Gupit proposed that they study the possibility


of adopting the new development in France where the children,
especially the illegitimate and natural ones, are already given in
advance whatever successional rights they have, so that in case
they have subsequent families, all ties with the previous ones are
completely terminated.

Justice Caguioa agreed that they should protect the


children but this should not stop the decision from
becoming final; they can put it as a condition for
contracting a subsequent marriage. Xxxx

5. What is the basis in the computation of the presumptive legitime?

ANSWER: The conjugal property/ absolute community of the spouses


as of the final judgment of annulment or declaration of absolute nullity.
In other words, it excludes the exclusive property in the computation.

Take note: There are two schools of thought.

First, Conjugal property or the absolute community.

Second, Conjugal property or the absolute community plus exclusive


property.

BUT THE FIRST SCHOOL OF THOUGHT IS ADHERED TO IN


THIS JURISDICTION. THIS IS IN CONSONANCE WITH THE INTENT
OF THE FRAMERS AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW.

FROM THE DISCUSSION OF THE FRAMERS, THE MESSAGE IS


CLEAR: The Committee could not have intended that a parent
should be forced to prematurely part with his/her inherited or
exclusive property during his/her lifetime in order to provide for
the presumptive legitime of the children. This could result in the
children being in a better financial position than the parent, who
may suffer financial reverses in their later years and would have no
more assets to fall back on, simply because they have delivered the
presumptive legitimes of their children in advance.

6. What is the basis in saying that the ONLY THE CONJUGAL PROPERTY
( EXCLUDING THE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY) IN COMPUTING THE
PRESUMPTIVE LEGITIME?

ANSWER: GO BACK TO THE INTENT AND SPIRIT OF THE LAW


BASED ON THE MINUTES OF THE COMMITTEE:

ONE OF THE FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION STATES:

I believe that the correct interpretation of the term “properties


of the spouses” being considered for liquidation and distribution in
Article 50 refer to the conjugal properties only or community property,
as the case may be. And it is only from these conjugal properties/
community property that the presumptive legitime of the children may
be taken. It is my position that the first theory should prevail – that
the legitime of the legitimate children can only be taken from the
conjugal properties or community properties of the spouses, not from
the exclusive or inherited properties of the spouses.

7. How is the delivery of the presumptive legitime done?

Art. 51. In said partition, the value of the presumptive


legitimes of all the common children computed as of the date
of the final judgment of the trial court, shall be delivered in
cash, property or sound securities, unless the parties, by
mutual agreement judicially approved, had already provided
for such matters.
8. Legal implication of the delivery of presumptive legitime on the legitime
upon the death of the parents ( testator)?

ANSWER: The values of the property already received under the


decree of annulment or absolute nullity under ARTICLE 43 shall be
considered advances of the legitime. It shall not prejudice the ultimate
successional rights of the children accruing upon the death of either or
both of the parents.

9. Aside from the delivery of the presumptive legitime, what else must be
done so that the subsequent marriage will be considered valid?

ANSWER: RECORD THE DELIVERY OF THE PRESUMPTIVE LEGITIMES


IN THE REGISTRY OF PROPERTY WHERE THE PROPERTY IS
LOCATED.

Art. 52.The judgment of annulment or of absolute nullity


of the marriage, the partition and distribution of the
properties of the spouses, and the delivery of the children’s
presumptive legitimes shall be recorded in the appropriate
civil registry and registries of property; otherwise, the same
shall not affect third person.

Art. 53. Either of the former spouses may marry again


after compliance with the requirements of the immediately
preceding Article; otherwise, the subsequent marriages shall
be null and void.”

10. How is the presumptive legitime computed?

ANS. Same as the computation of the legitime under Article 888 but the
basis is the conjugal property/ absolute community at the time of the time
of the final judgment in the action for annulment or absolute nullity of
marriage under Article 43.

On the other hand the basis of the computation of the legitime is under
ART 888 of the NEW CIVIL CODE, is the entire estate of the deceased.
Take note, THE LEGITIME comprises the net estate of a person.
Therefore, when a person dies his net estate consists, not only of
his share in the conjugal partnership (which is one-half) but also
his/her exclusive properties which he/she may have inherited from
his parents or were bequests to him, or were acquired gratuitously
before and during marriage.

11. EXAMPLE: A and B’s marriage was annulled. At the time


of the final judgment, the only conjugal property of the
spouses is a 5 hectare parcel of coconut farm. What is the
presumptive legitime of C and D, their children?

ANSWER: The presumptive legitime is one-half of the 5


hectare coconut farm of the spouses or 2.5 hectares.

12. WHAT IS THE RATIONALE BEHIND THE PROVISIONS ON


PRESUMPTIVE LEGITIME?

ANSWER: (GO BACK TO THE MINUTES OF THE COMMITTEE):

To summarize:

RATIONALE: To provide for the children of the first marriage from the
conjugal properties/ absolute community of the parents so that in the event
the one parent enters into a subsequent marriage, the children from the
prior marriage would not be prejudiced in their ultimate sucessional rights.

SITUATION WHICH IT SOUGHT TO AVOID:

When a parent marries for a second time and the properties from the
first marriage are commingled with the properties acquired during the
second marriage, because there was no delivery of the presumptive
legitime, the children from the first marriage would be greatly
prejudiced if the children of the second marriage get to inherit from
properties which were acquired during the first marriage.
This situation has resulted in a lot of inequity and bitter quarrels among
heirs in the distribution of assets between the children of the first
marriage and the children of the second marriage when the common
parent dies. It is our position that the framers of the Family Code
wanted to avoid this all too familiar controversy among heirs and
intended that the legitime of the children of the first/annulled marriage
should be taken from the conjugal properties/absolute community of
the spouses only.

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