My parent died while I was a minor and had a guardian — did prescription still run against me during my minority?

The rule: prescription runs even against minors with representatives

Article 1108 of the Civil Code directly addresses this situation: Prescription, both acquisitive and extinctive, runs against minors and other incapacitated persons who have parents, guardians or other legal representatives. The fact that you were a minor and had a guardian does not pause or suspend prescription. The Civil Code's position is that the guardian exists precisely to act on your behalf — to file suits, manage property, and assert legal rights. If the guardian failed to do those things during your minority, prescription still ran against you as if you had full capacity.

Both types of prescription run

Article 1108 covers both acquisitive and extinctive prescription. Acquisitive prescription is the process by which another person's long possession can ripen into ownership over your property. Extinctive prescription is the process by which your right to enforce a claim disappears if you wait too long to assert it. In both directions, minors with legal representatives are not protected from the running of time. If someone was quietly possessing land that belonged to your estate during your minority, the time counted. Equally, if your estate had claims that were not asserted, those claims may have become extinguished.

Four categories that prescription runs against

Article 1108 lists four categories of persons and entities against whom prescription runs: minors and incapacitated persons with representatives, absentees with administrators, persons living abroad who have managers, and juridical persons other than the State and its subdivisions. What these four share is that each has a representative who is capable of acting legally on their behalf. The law's reasoning is uniform across all four: where someone capable of acting exists, the law holds that person responsible for timely action. The absence of capacity in the owner does not suspend prescription when someone else has the capacity and authority to act.

Your remedy if the guardian was negligent

The Civil Code does not leave you without recourse. Article 1108 provides: Persons who are disqualified from administering their property have a right to claim damages from their legal representatives whose negligence has been the cause of prescription. If your guardian failed to take action to protect your rights — failed to file suit to recover property being encroached upon, or failed to assert claims before they prescribed — and that negligence caused you loss, you have a right to claim damages from the guardian. This is a separate remedy against the guardian personally, not a reversal of the prescription itself.

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.

• Bartola M. Vda De Tirona, et al. vs. Cirilo Encarnacion, G.R. No. 168902, September 28, 2007 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Sheriff Albert A. Dela Cruz of the Sandiganbayan Security and Sheriff Services, the Sandiganbayan Security and Sheriff Services vs. Wellex Group, Inc, G.R. No. 247439, August 23, 2023 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Heirs of Mario Malabanan vs. Republic of the Philippines, G.R. No. 179987, April 29, 2009 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Republic of the Philippine, et al. vs. Heirs of Agustin L. Angeles, et al, G.R. No. 141296, October 7, 2002 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 1108 — Against Whom Prescription Runs