Short answer. The surviving illegitimate children inherit in their own right, taking one share each, while the children of the illegitimate child who died first inherit by representation — they step into their parent's place and divide that one share among themselves, however many of them there are.
What the law says
If, together with illegitimate children, there should survive descendants of another illegitimate child who is dead, the former shall succeed in their own right and the latter by right of representation.
Civil Code, Article 989 — Own Right and Representation. Read the full provision →
Own right versus representation, in numbers
The distinction decides the arithmetic. An heir who succeeds in his own right is counted as one head; heirs who succeed by right of representation are counted as one head between them, because they collectively occupy the place of the person they represent. So if a parent left three illegitimate children and one of them died earlier leaving four children of his own, the estate is divided into three, not six: two surviving children take a third each, and the four grandchildren divide the remaining third among themselves. Representation does not multiply a branch's entitlement; it preserves it. The branch takes exactly what the deceased child would have taken, no more.
How this article reads today
The rule was framed on the classification of children used when the Civil Code took effect in 1950, and it must be read subject to the Family Code. The Family Code provides that the legitime of each illegitimate child is one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child, and that "except for this modification, all other provisions in the Civil Code governing successional rights shall remain in force." The Family Code also recognises a single class of illegitimate child, so the older Civil Code sub-classifications no longer rank one illegitimate branch above another. The mechanics of this article — own right for the living, representation for the descendants of the dead — carry over unchanged.
The limits of representation here
Representation operates only where the represented heir is dead at the time the succession opens, or is incapacitated or disinherited; it does not apply to someone who is merely alive and unwilling. An heir who validly repudiates the inheritance cannot be represented at all, and the share he refuses accrues to the others. Representation also runs in the descending line only, so an illegitimate child's parent or sibling cannot represent him. And this article does not by itself defeat the separate rule barring intestate succession between an illegitimate child and the legitimate relatives of his parents — the branch must still be one the law lets inherit from this particular estate.
What to prepare
Each branch must prove two links: the deceased parent's filiation to the person whose estate is being settled, and the grandchildren's filiation to that deceased parent. Certified birth certificates, records of acknowledgment, admissions of parentage in public or private documents, and evidence of open and continuous possession of the status of a child are the usual proof, along with the death certificate showing the order of deaths. Because minors are often involved, a settlement that shortchanges a represented branch can be attacked years later. Do not sign an extrajudicial settlement until the headcount is correct; where the branches disagree, book a consultation before filing anything.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Amadea Angela K. Aquino vs. Rodolfo C. Aquino and Abdulah C. Aquino/Rodolfo C. Aquino, G.R. No. 208912 / G.R. No. 209018, December 7, 2021 — read the decision on LawPhil →