Balancing testamentary freedom and legitime rights: A study on the reduction of legitimes under Philippine law

• Main Authors: Meridores, Keith Ivan O., Palomique, Ernesto C., III
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Legitime—Philippines; Civil Law
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6793
• Institution: De La Salle University

The concept of Succession is arguably one of the most confusing subjects in the study of law, both students and practitioners alike find this field of law complicated in some ways and also, some may say that it is out dated and needs revisiting. With this in mind, the authors review the provisions on legitimes contained in Book III of the New Civil Code. The authors seeks to simplify the provisions of legitimes and at the same time further expand the portion the testator may freely dispose. The authors looked into several sources of legal knowledge ranging from commentaries of local authors to foreign jurisprudence, and everything in between to gain a good grasp of how the law on succession has changed around the world. The study was carried out using a case study approach by analysing each source and inferring a pattern with which the authors concluded that amending and further de-restricting the provisions on legitimes would be possible and may even have a positive effect on society, considering how much it has changed since the promulgation of the New Civil Code.