Text of the provision
Art. 1026. A testamentary disposition may be made to the State, provinces, municipal corporations, private corporations, organizations, or associations for religious, scientific, cultural, educational, or charitable purposes. All other corporations or entities may succeed under a will, unless there is a provision to the contrary in their charter or the laws of their creation, and always subject to the same.
(746a)
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
A testamentary disposition may be made to the State, provinces, municipal corporations, private corporations, organizations or associations for religious, scientific, cultural, educational or charitable purposes.
Beyond gifts for religious, scientific, cultural, educational, or charitable ends, the article also addresses corporations and entities generally: any corporation or entity — even one organized for ordinary commercial purposes — may receive property under a will, unless its own charter or the law under which it was created forbids it. In other words, the default rule favors testamentary capacity for juridical persons, and it is the exception, not the rule, when a corporation cannot inherit; that exception must be found in the entity's own governing charter or organic law, not presumed from the nature of its business.
Questions about this provision
Related provisions
- Article 1025 — The Heir Must Be Living at the Opening.
- Article 1027 — Who Cannot Inherit by Will.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.