What are the sibling inheritance laws in the Philippines?
What are the sibling inheritance laws in the Philippines?
Siblings can inherit from each other in inheritance of property law in the Philippines.
Sibling inheritance can be either through a will or without a will.
Inheriting through a will would go through a Testate process, where the Will is proven in court.
Inheriting without a will goes through Intestate proceedings in the Philippines, where who the property goes to and how much is determined by the rules on intestate succession.
In general, it is more desirable to go though an Extrajudicial Settlement as it is cheaper and less work.
In this article, I discuss:
- who the heirs are (legal heirs in Tagalog are called “tagapagmana” and specified in the law) and when siblings inherit
- dividing land between siblings if they disagree
- whether all the siblings have to agree to sell property
- an overview of the process of how to settle an estate extrajudicially
Let’s start.
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Under Philippine law, legal heirs (called “tagapagmana” in Tagalog) are grouped by proximity of relation to the deceased.
The inheritance order is generally as follows:
Primary Heirs: These are the direct descendants – children of the deceased (including illegitimate children and legally adopted children) as well as the person’s spouse. Grandchildren will also inherit.
They are the first in line to inherit.
Secondary Heirs: If there are no descendants, then parents and ascendants of the deceased (such as surviving mother, father, or grandparents if the parents are already deceased).
They inherit only if there are no primary heirs.
Collateral Heirs: These include siblings of the deceased, and by extension nephews and nieces (who can inherit by representing a deceased sibling-parent).
Collateral relatives inherit only if there are no primary heirs (no children/grandchildren) and no secondary heirs (no surviving parents/ascendants).
Philippine law on succession allows the substitution of children on their deceased parent’s share of the estate through the right of representation
A deceased sibling’s inheritance goes to his relatives and family but a sibling only inherits if the primary and secondary heirs are not living.
So, who receives the inheritance property depends on when the inheritance occurred.
The rules of succession in the new civil code define these heirs in the law.
Let’s do an example.
If the deceased sibling passed away before his parents, then his inheritance from his parents goes to his legitimate and illegitimate children through the Right of Representation.
If the deceased sibling passed away after his parents, then his inheritance from his parents goes to his legitimate and illegitimate children as well as his legal spouse.
As you can see, the dates of when these events occurred are very important.
And what is actually on the property documents is important since transferring the property to the heirs is very heavily dependent on the available documents.
The Philippine law on inheritance has a specific order of who inherits depending on the remaining family members.
If a deceased sibling passes away without any children and without a will, then his property goes to his legal spouse and his parents. If his parents are not living, then his legal spouse and his siblings inherit.
Note that the amount that heirs receive is also determined by the laws of inheritance in the Philippines.
For example—
If the deceased had no children, no will, and no living parents, his wife inherits one half of the estate while his siblings inherit the other half of the estate.
If the deceased had no children and no will but had living parents, his wife and parents will inherit equally.
So, who inherits depends in a large part on who the surviving heirs are.
A niece or nephew can also inherit but it depends on the situation
Yes, a niece or nephew can inherit from an aunt or uncle.
For instance,
The children may inherit instead of their father if one of the father’s siblings has passed away without children, a legal spouse, or living parents.
The children can inherit because of something called the Right of Representation, as defined in Article 970 of the Civil Code of the Philippines.
The specific article for inheritance by nieces and nephews is below:
Art. 975. When children of one or more brothers or sisters of the deceased survive, they shall inherit from the latter by representation if they survive with their uncles or aunts. But if they alone survive, they shall inherit in equal portions.
An important note here is that the nieces and nephews only inherit from their uncle or aunt under certain circumstances.
The heirs are in the law in the Philippines but who these heirs are is very dependent on the actual family situation.
If a person dies without a will and has no children or parents, their siblings inherit the estate.
If the deceased left a will, they can allocate assets to their siblings as long as it respects the legitime (mandatory shares for compulsory heirs like children and parents).
Let’s do a few scenarios on who inherits.
- If a single person has no spouse, parents, or children, then siblings inherit 100% of the estate if there is no will.
- If the deceased has surviving parents but no children, then parents inherit first and then siblings get nothing when there is no will
- If the deceased has a will leaving assets to friends, then the friends can inherit and the siblings do not inherit.
So, a lot depends on whether there is a will as siblings are not compulsory heirs.
It is common when siblings fight over an inheritance
The process for dividing land between siblings can be done through a Deed of Partition.
A Deed of Partition splits the land into separate titled pieces.
- Owners do not agree on what to do with the property.
- Each owner wants complete control over the property and is willing to divide it.
A Deed of Partition is very helpful when siblings do not agree on what to do with a property inheritance.
However, please note that it does not take the place of settling an estate.
Settling the estate follows laws on land inheritance in the Philippines and is the process where the BIR estate taxes are paid and the heirs are identified.
Settling the estate allows the property to be transferred to the names of the new owners and is necessary to accomplish.
It can be very complicated to do, especially when the siblings don’t agree, when there are no property documents or when there is no money to settle the estate.
Settling the estate must be done even if a Deed of Partition is being considered.
Yes, adopted siblings – so long as they are legally adopted – of the deceased inherit as well.
Yes, illegitimate siblings also inherit although they only inherit one half of what a legitimate sibling inherits.
Again, adopted or illegitimate siblings only inherit when there is not will and when the deceased has no primary or secondary heirs.
Inheritances can often cause fights between siblings.
These fights may cause a lot of issues in settling the estate, since generally the intestate process requires that the heirs all sign the extrajudicial settlement.
Siblings might disagree on:
- Who inherits as some may not want the illegitimate or adopted sibling to inherit
- How much they inherit, with one sibling claiming more than his/her share.
If siblings cannot agree, they may seek estate mediation through counsel.
They may also decide to file a case in court to resolve disputes – but this should be a last resort as this takes years and can cost so much.
Consult a lawyer when trying to do estate planning to reduce tax dues
The process to give each heir his inheritance is called the settlement of estate and is also governed by laws on inheritance.
Settling an estate in the Philippines can be either through court or without court.
The court process is called Judicial Settlement of Estate.
The non-court process is called extrajudicial settlement of estate or EJS.
The EJS process has the below basic steps:
Step1: Determine who the heirs are and get all the family documents, such as the birth certificates and marriage certificates of all involved.
Step 2: Gather the property documents such as the original Owner’s Certificate of Title and the Tax Declaration. These property documents should be in the deceased’s name and should not have any typos. You will need the death certificate
Step 3: Confirm all the documents by getting certified true copies of the Titles, and then also getting the tax declarations from the local City Assessor’s. This might mean paying outstanding real property taxes.
Step 4: Create an EJS
Step 5: Sign and notarize the EJS as all siblings must sign.
Step 6: Submit the EJS at the BIR and pay the BIR estate taxes
Step 7: Transfer the property at the Registry of Deeds and the City Hall
This can be very, very difficult especially if the heirs do not agree and if the property documents are missing.
For a more detailed explanation of what this takes, please read How to transfer land title to heirs in the Philippines which provides a step by step guide to settling an estate.
The Philippines has extended the Estate Tax Amnesty to June 14 2025
An Extrajudicial Settlement costs 6% of the net estate as well as lawyers, accountants, and document-gathering fees, while a judicial settlement can cost much more.
Here is a quick summary table of the costs for filing an estate through an Extrajudicial Settlement:
- 6% estate taxes at the BIR and there may also be donor’s fees and DST if an inheritance is waived.
- 5% to 0.75% Transfer fees at the City Assessor’s
- Transfer fees at the Registry of Deeds
- Accounting fees for estates over 5 million
- Lawyers and courier fees.
An Extrajudicial Settlement is much cheaper since inheritance laws in without-will situations mean you just submit at the BIR—you avoid court altogether.
Court can be very expensive.
Court costs include lawyer’s fees and also include about 2% in filing fees in addition to what you will pay the BIR.
Still, avoiding court may not always be possible if there is a will or a disagreement.
In both cases, a law firm to help out is very important, as there are so many steps needed.
It is common when siblings fight over an inheritance
The process for dividing land between siblings can be done through a Deed of Partition.
A Deed of Partition splits the land into separate titled pieces.
- Owners do not agree on what to do with the property
- Each owner wants complete control over the property and is willing to divide it
A Deed of Partition is very helpful when siblings do not agree on what to do with a property inheritance.
However, please note that it does not take the place of settling an estate.
Settling the estate follows laws on land inheritance in the Philippines and is the process where the BIR estate taxes are paid and the heirs are identified.
Settling the estate allows the property to be transferred to the names of the new owners and is necessary to accomplish.
It can be very complicated to do especially when the siblings don’t agree, when there are no property documents or when there is no money to settle the estate.
Settling the estate must be done even if a Deed of Partition is being considered.
One of the best way to divide the property is by liquidating the estates.
Yes, all the heirs have to agree to sell the property.
It is very common that siblings do not agree with regard to what to do with a property.
Some siblings may want to keep the property.
Some siblings may want to sell it.
However, selling a property requires that all the heirs sign the Deed of Sale so if one refuses to sign, then the sale cannot go through.
Siblings in this situation can decide to do one of the following:
- They can go to court (This is not advisable since this takes so much time and money).
They can sell part of the property by using a Deed of Partition to divide it so that those who want to keep the property can take a portion and keep it.
When there are family disagreements, try to resolve them in the family.
However, if that doesn’t work, you can contact a lawyer to try to help close the estate settlement—it may help.