Text of the provision
Art. 1017. The words "one-half for each" or "in equal shares" or any others which, though designating an aliquot part, do not identify it by such description as shall make each heir the exclusive owner of determinate property, shall not exclude the right of accretion. In case of money or fungible goods, if the share of each heir is not earmarked, there shall be a right of accretion.
(983a)
Civil Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 386, approved June 18, 1949, effective August 30, 1950. Reproduced in full; verified verbatim against the LawPhil and ChanRobles official-text renderings.
What this article means
The words ‘one-half for each’ or ‘in equal shares’, which designate an aliquot part without making each heir the exclusive owner of determinate property, do not exclude the right of accretion.
The current annotation covers the article’s first rule, on phrases like “one-half for each.” Its second rule addresses money and other fungible goods specifically: if a testator leaves a sum of money or a quantity of fungible property to several heirs without earmarking — that is, without setting aside — each heir’s particular share, the right of accretion applies in the same way. The underlying test in both situations is the same: naming a fraction is not enough to defeat accretion; what matters is whether each heir was given a determinate, individually identifiable share of specific property.
Questions about this provision
- The will left property to us 'in equal shares' — if one heir drops out, do the others absorb his portion?
- What happens to a specific item left in a will if the person named to receive it refuses to accept it?
Related provisions
- Article 1016 — Requisites in Testamentary Succession.
- Article 1018 — Accretion in Intestate Succession.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.