My father's will leaves one child and a widow — how much of the estate is the widow's legitime?

The fraction, and what it is a fraction of

If only one legitimate child or descendant of the deceased survives, the widow or widower shall be entitled to one-fourth of the hereditary estate. The measure is the whole hereditary estate, not a quarter of what is left after the child is paid. So with a single child the reserved portions are a half for the child and a quarter for the widow, three-quarters in all, leaving one-quarter that the will could dispose of freely. Work in fractions of the net estate throughout; most family disagreements about these numbers come from taking a fraction of a remainder.

Where the widow's quarter comes from

It is not carved out of the child's half. The article ends by saying that the legitime of the surviving spouse shall be taken from the portion that can be freely disposed of by the testator. That is the reason the free portion in this situation is a quarter rather than a half — the widow's share has already been drawn from it. What the arrangement protects is the child's half, which stays whole no matter who else survives, and what it burdens is the testator's freedom to give elsewhere.

One child, or one line of descendants

The rule is triggered by a single legitimate child or descendant, so a deceased child represented by grandchildren does not automatically move the case into the two-or-more bracket. Grandchildren inheriting in their parent's place stand in that parent's position and share the one portion between them. Count the lines descending from the deceased rather than the heads standing in front of you, because the widow's fraction changes with that count and the arithmetic follows from it.

Before applying any of this to real assets

Fix the estate first. If your father was married under absolute community or conjugal partnership, the property regime is liquidated before succession begins, and roughly half the marital property is your mother's own share, not part of the estate at all. Debts, taxes and expenses come off next. The quarter is then computed on what remains. Gather the marriage details, the titles, and the will itself, because the widow's quarter is worthless as a figure until the estate it applies to is known.

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.

• Elenita V. Macalinao, Kenneth V. Macalinao and Kristel V. Macalinao vs. Cerina, A.K.A. Cerena N. Macalinao and Cindy N. Ma, G.R. No. 250613, April 3, 2024 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 892 — Legitime Of Surviving Spouse
• Civil Code, Article 888 — Legitime of Legitimate Children