Short answer. Article 975 of the Civil Code lets the children of a deceased brother or sister inherit by representation when they survive together with their surviving uncles or aunts. Together, that branch of nephews and nieces steps into the share their deceased parent would have received, dividing it among themselves.
What the law says
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.
Civil Code, Article 975 — Nephews and Nieces With Surviving Siblings. Read the full provision →
What the law says
But if they alone survive, they shall inherit in equal portions.
Civil Code, Article 975 — Nephews and Nieces With Surviving Siblings. Read the full provision →
Representation is what lets them inherit at all
Article 975 uses the word representation deliberately. The nephews or nieces are not inheriting in their own right, as if they were siblings of the deceased themselves; they are stepping into the place their own parent would have occupied, had that parent survived. That distinction is what allows them to inherit alongside living uncles and aunts in the first place — without representation, only the surviving siblings themselves would inherit, and the branch of a predeceased sibling would get nothing.
Sharing with the surviving aunts and uncles
When nephews or nieces inherit together with surviving uncles or aunts, the article's first sentence applies: they inherit by representation. In practice, this means the group of children from one deceased sibling collectively receives what that sibling's own share would have been, and that share is what gets divided among however many children that sibling left, rather than each nephew or niece receiving a full sibling's share on their own.
If no aunts or uncles are left at all
Article 975 also covers the situation where the nephews and nieces are the only ones left — no siblings of the deceased survive at all, only their children. In that case the rule changes: rather than inheriting by representation, they inherit in equal portions. That means the calculation is no longer done sibling-branch by sibling-branch; every surviving nephew and niece, regardless of which parent they descend from, takes an equal share of what is left.
Why the distinction matters for your family
Whether representation or equal-portion sharing applies changes how much each person actually receives, so it is worth working out precisely who is still alive before assuming how the estate divides. If even one uncle or aunt survives alongside the nephews and nieces, the by-representation rule governs; only once none of the deceased's siblings remain does the equal-portions rule take over. A lawyer can help confirm which situation your family is actually in before the estate is settled.
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.
- Heirs of Jose Reyes, jr. namely; Magdalena C. reyes, et al. vs. Amanda S. Reyes, et al, G.R. No. 158377, August 13, 2010 — read the decision on LawPhil →