Short answer. At the moment of death. The rights of the heirs vest immediately under Article 777 — not when the will is read, not when the estate taxes are settled, and not when the title is finally transferred. Everything that happens afterwards is proof and division of what has already passed.
What the law says
The rights to the succession are transmitted from the moment of the death of the decedent.
Civil Code, Article 777 — Succession Opens at the Moment of Death. Read the full provision →
The Code fixes one date, and it is the death
Article 777 says it in a single line: The rights to the succession are transmitted from the moment of the death of the decedent. There is no waiting period and no intervening act. Heirs do not acquire their rights when a will is admitted to probate, when an extrajudicial settlement is signed, or when the estate taxes are paid and the title is transferred into their names. They acquire them the instant the decedent dies. Those later steps establish who the heirs are and what each of them takes; they do not create the right, because the law has already transferred it.
What that timing actually decides
The date matters far more than it looks. Income the property produces after the death — rent from the family apartment, harvests, interest on deposits — accrues to the heirs rather than to the deceased, because the thing producing it was already theirs. An heir who himself dies after the decedent but before the estate is divided has still inherited, so his own heirs step into his share. And an heir's later decision does not move the date either: Article 1042 provides that the effects of acceptance or repudiation always retroact to the moment of the death of the decedent.
You inherit a share, not a house
What passes at death is not a particular lot or a particular bank account. Article 1078 provides that where there are two or more heirs, the whole estate is, before partition, owned in common by them, subject to the payment of the debts of the deceased. Until a partition is made, each heir holds an undivided interest in everything rather than a specific asset. This is the point most families get wrong. It is why one heir cannot validly sell the family lot on his own, and why buyers of so-called inherited property so often discover they have bought a share in a co-ownership.
The date on the certificate is the date everything runs from
Two things follow in practice. First, the estate is composed and valued as of the death, so the death certificate date is the anchor for almost every later computation and deadline. Second, delay does not undo the transfer — it only leaves the heirs holding an undivided estate for longer, accumulating taxes, surcharges and disagreements. If you are an heir, the documents worth assembling first are the death certificate, the titles, tax declarations and account records as they stood on that date, and the will if one exists.
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.
- Dr. Nixon L. Treyes vs. Antonio Larlar, et al, G.R. No. 232579, September 8, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Spouses Isidro R. Salitico and Conrada C. Salitico vs. Heirs of Resurreccion Martinez Felix, G.R. No. 240199, April 10, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Vicente Gomez vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 120747, September 21, 2000 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Spouses Feliciana and Angel Cesa vs. Spouses Elisa Montano Brucelas and David Brucelas, G.R. No. 255564, March 5, 2025 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 777 — Succession Opens at the Moment of Death
- Civil Code, Article 1042 — The Effects Retroact to Death
- Civil Code, Article 1078 — Co-Ownership Before Partition