Short answer. The widow takes the same share as one legitimate child. Where the surviving spouse concurs with legitimate children or their descendants and illegitimate children, she is counted alongside the legitimate children and receives a share equal to each of theirs. Each illegitimate child then takes half of a legitimate child's share.

What the law says

such widow or widower shall be entitled to the same share as that of a legitimate child

Civil Code, Article 999 — Spouse Takes a Child’s Share. Read the full provision →

How this article reads today

Article 999 still gives the widow a share equal to a legitimate child's, but it must be read against later law. It was written on the classification of children the Civil Code used in 1950, when illegitimate children were divided into sub-classes taking different amounts. The Family Code abolished those sub-classes — there is now one class of illegitimate child — and fixed the legitime of each illegitimate child at one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child. Except for that modification, the Family Code kept the Civil Code's provisions on successional rights in force. So the widow is still counted as a legitimate child, while each illegitimate child takes half of what each legitimate child takes.

Counting the shares

The arithmetic follows from those two rules. Treat the widow as one legitimate child, add the legitimate children, and count each illegitimate child as a half. Divide the net estate by that total to get one legitimate share, then distribute. Two legitimate children, a widow and one illegitimate child, for instance, gives three full shares plus a half — three and a half parts in all. Because the illegitimate children's entitlement is expressed as a fraction of a legitimate child's, the estate is not first sliced in halves as it is where only illegitimate children survive. Where the fund is short, the legitimes of the compulsory heirs are protected first.

Divide only what is actually the estate

Before any of this, the marital property must be liquidated. Under absolute community, one-half belongs to the surviving spouse in her own right as co-owner; only the deceased's half falls into the estate. Under a conjugal partnership, exclusive property is separated and the partnership gains are divided. Debts, funeral expenses and taxes come off next. The widow's hereditary share — the one equal to a legitimate child's — is computed on what is left. Families who skip the liquidation step routinely produce deeds of partition that give the widow far too little or far too much.

Proving filiation and settling the estate

An illegitimate child takes nothing unless filiation is established in one of the ways the Family Code allows, most commonly the record of birth or a signed admission of filiation. Where this is contested, it is generally resolved before any partition. If there is no will, no debts, and all heirs are of age and in agreement, the estate can be settled extrajudicially — but every heir must join, and omitting one does not extinguish that heir's right. Estate tax has its own deadline and accrues surcharges while the family argues. Gather the certificates, titles and bank records before anyone drafts anything. General legal information only.

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.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.