Text of the provision
Art. 43. If there is a doubt, as between two or more persons who are called to succeed each other, as to which of them died first, whoever alleges the death of one prior to the other, shall prove the same; in the absence of proof, it is presumed that they died at the same time and there shall be no transmission of rights from one to the other.
(33)
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
When two people who would inherit from each other die in circumstances where it is unclear who died first (a common accident, say), the party claiming one died before the other must prove it. If no one can, the law presumes they died at the same instant — and so no rights pass between them. Each estate is settled as if the other had not survived. (This differs from the general survivorship presumptions in the Rules of Court, which apply outside the succession context.)
Related provisions
- Article 42 — death extinguishes personality.
- Article 44 — juridical persons.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.