Dear Atty. Peachy,

I was born out of wedlock. My parents parted ways when I was only three years old and never got married.

When I was five years old, my mother got married. Her husband did not like the idea of starting their new family with me around so my mother was constrained to leave me with my grandmother.

After about three years of being married and not being able to have a child together, my mother and stepfather decided to legally adopt a child. My grandmother raised me until her untimely death about a year ago.

My mother, being the only child of my grandmother was her sole heir. Hence, all of the properties of my grandmother, including the house and lot where my grandmother raised me, were inherited by my mother.

Three months ago, my mother passed away due to a vehicular accident. I received a message from my stepfather about a month ago, asking me to vacate my grandmother’s house. He claims that it is part of their absolute community property and that he, thus, owns one-half of it. He likewise claims that their adopted daughter has a larger share in my mother’s estate as she is their legitimate child.

 Is this true? Are the properties that my mother inherited from my grandmother part of the absolute community property of my mother and my stepfather? Does my mother’s adopted child really have more rights to her estate than me who is her biological child? What are my rights to my mother’s estate, particularly to my grandmother’s house?

      Sarah

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Dear Sarah,

Your stepfather was wrong in claiming that the properties that your mother inherited from your grandmother forms parts of their absolute community property.

These properties are paraphernal properties of your mother. A paraphernal property solely belongs to either the husband or the wife only and is not part of the absolute community property.

 Properties acquired by either the husband or the wife by gratuitous title during the marriage is considered as paraphernal property, or exlusive property, of the person who received it and it not considered as part of the community property.

 Gratuitous means “without pay.” Properties acquired by gratuitous title may be in the form of donation, inheritance, waiver or transfer, provided that the receiving party did not have to pay for it. The inherited properties of your mother from your grandmother within her marriage to your stepfather remained paraphernal to her.

Thus, all properties that your mother inherited from your grandmother forms part of her estate that will be distributed to all her heirs under the law of intestate succession. Your stepfather’s right over the paraphernal properties of your mother is only as an heir of your mother and not as a co-owner. Contrary to his claim, your stepfather does not own one-half of the properties inherited by your mother from your grandmother.

According to Article 999 of the Civil Code, if the decedent is survived by his spouse, legitimate children, and illegitimate children, the surviving spouse’s share shall be similar to the share of a legitimate child.

Your stepfather is, however, correct in claiming that their legally adopted daughter stands to inherit more than you from your mother. Legally adopted children have the same inheritance rights as legitimate biological children. The adopted child succeeds to the property of the adopting parents in the same manner as would a legitimate child.

Unfortunately, the law does not treat legitimate and illegitimate children similarly insofar as inheritance is concerned. The general rule is that an illegitimate child is entitled to one-half of the share of a legitimate child (Articles 895 and 983 of the Civil Code). If a legitimate child receives 1 share, the illegitimate child would receive 0.5 shares.

Your stepfather, their adopted daughter and you are the legal heirs of your mother. You can execute an extrajudicial settlement of the estate of your mother, that is, a settlement out of court. Otherwise, either of you may file a petition for the settlement of the intestate estate of your mother which includes your grandmother’s house.

Atty. Peachy Selda-Gregorio