Short answer. No. The widow or widower is a compulsory heir under Civil Code Article 887 and is not excluded by the presence of legitimate children or legitimate parents. All three groups inherit together. The children cannot push the surviving spouse out of the estate.
What the law says
Compulsory heirs mentioned in Nos. 3, 4, and 5 are not excluded by those in Nos. 1 and 2; neither do they exclude one another.
Civil Code, Article 887 — Who the Compulsory Heirs Are. Read the full provision →
The widow or widower is a compulsory heir
Article 887 lists the compulsory heirs — those whom Philippine law protects with a guaranteed share of the estate that cannot be taken away by a will. The surviving spouse is expressly included as a compulsory heir. Critically, Article 887 contains a specific non-exclusion rule: compulsory heirs mentioned in numbers 3, 4, and 5 — including the widow or widower — are not excluded by those in numbers 1 and 2, which are the legitimate children and the legitimate parents. The presence of children does not push the surviving spouse out of the inheritance.
How the estate is divided when children and a widow survive together
When a person dies leaving both legitimate children and a surviving spouse, all of them inherit together. The exact shares — how the estate is divided among all compulsory heirs — are set by the successive provisions of the Civil Code that fix the legitime of each class. The widow or widower's share depends on how many legitimate children survive, whether there are also illegitimate children, and the total size of the estate. The surviving spouse does not get nothing; the question is how much, not whether.
How the rules on illegitimate children have changed
Article 887 as originally written listed several categories of illegitimate children. Those categories no longer apply. The Family Code eliminated the distinction between 'acknowledged natural children,' 'natural children by legal fiction,' and other classes. Today there is a single class of illegitimate children. Each illegitimate child's legitime is one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child — a rule now set by the Family Code rather than by the categories in Article 887's original text. When settling an estate that includes illegitimate children, the current Family Code rule on their share is what controls, not the old Civil Code classifications.
What this means when you are settling an estate
If you are a surviving spouse and the children of the deceased are telling you that you have no share, or are pressuring you to accept a smaller portion than you are legally entitled to, the starting point is Article 887: you are a compulsory heir and you cannot be excluded. The actual computation of everyone's share — how the estate is divided among children, the widow, and any illegitimate children — depends on the specific facts and the applicable provisions. Estate settlements involving multiple classes of heirs are among the more complex legal matters families face, and getting independent legal advice early protects everyone's legitimate share.
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.
- Amadea Angela K. Aquino vs. Rodolfo C. Aquino and Abdulah C. Aquino/Rodolfo C. Aquino, G.R. No. 208912 / G.R. No. 209018, December 7, 2021 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Martin Roberto G. Tirol vs. Sol Nolasco, G.R. No. 230103, August 27, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Ingrid V. Hilario vs. Thelma Miranda and Irenea Belloc, G.R. No. 196499, November 28, 2018 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- 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 →