My uncle formally refused his share of my grandmother's estate — can his own children step in and claim it instead?

Repudiation closes the line

Heirs who repudiate their share may not be represented. Representation exists to fill a gap the heir could not help, so Article 970 raises the representative to the place of someone who died, or who for some reason could not inherit. A living heir who was called and said no is not a gap. He rejected the share for himself, and because his children would only ever take through his position, there is nothing left for them to step into. This is the point most families get wrong: a repudiation is not a way of skipping a generation.

The rule that is constantly confused with it

Article 976 says the opposite-sounding thing: A person may represent him whose inheritance he has renounced. The two are not in conflict because they look at different estates. Your uncle refusing your grandmother's estate cannot be represented in that estate. But if your uncle had died and his children had earlier renounced his own estate, that renunciation would not stop them representing him in your grandmother's. What disqualifies a representative is repudiating the estate now being divided, not having walked away from the represented person's separate property.

Where the refused share actually goes

It stays at his level rather than dropping to the next. Article 1018 is categorical for intestacy: in legal succession the share of the person who repudiates the inheritance shall always accrue to his co-heirs. Article 1015 describes the same mechanism generally, the part assigned to the one who renounces being added to that of his co-heirs. In practice, your uncle's portion is absorbed by your grandmother's other children, which usually means your own parent, and the estate is divided as though he had never been called.

Was it really a repudiation?

Check the form before accepting the consequence. Article 1051 requires repudiation to be made in a public or authentic instrument, or by petition to the court with jurisdiction over the proceedings, so a verbal refusal at a family meeting is not one. Article 1050 goes further: renouncing gratuitously in favour of one or more named co-heirs is deemed an acceptance, because choosing who benefits is an act of ownership. Get the actual document your uncle signed and read what it says, since a mislabelled waiver may be an acceptance and assignment with quite different tax and title consequences.

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 977 — Those Who Repudiate Cannot Be Represented
• Civil Code, Article 976 — Representing One Whose Inheritance Was Renounced
• Civil Code, Article 1018 — Accretion in Intestate Succession
• Civil Code, Article 1051 — How to Repudiate