Text of the provision
Art. 1018. In legal succession the share of the person who repudiates the inheritance shall always accrue to his co-heirs.
(981)
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
In legal succession, the share of the person who repudiates the inheritance always accrues to his co-heirs.
The word “always” marks a contrast with testamentary succession, where accretion applies only when specific requisites are met — for instance, that the co-heirs were called pro indiviso to the same inheritance. In legal, or intestate, succession no such conditions apply: whenever an heir repudiates, meaning formally declines the inheritance, that heir’s share automatically passes to the co-heirs of the same degree, without any need to show the heirs were called jointly to an undivided portion. This reflects the more flexible character of shares the law itself distributes, rather than shares a testator has defined in advance.
Questions about this provision
- In intestate succession, if one heir refuses his share, who gets it?
- My uncle formally refused his share of my grandmother's estate — can his own children step in and claim it instead?
Related provisions
- Article 1017 — 'In Equal Shares' Still Allows Accretion.
- Article 1019 — Proportion of Accretion.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.