Text of the provision
Art. 51. In said partition, the value of the presumptive legitimes of all common children, computed as of the date of the final judgment of the trial court, shall be delivered in cash, property or sound securities, unless the parties, by mutual agreement judicially approved, had already provided for such matters.
The children or their guardian or the trustee of their property may ask for the enforcement of the judgment.
The delivery of the presumptive legitimes herein prescribed shall in no way prejudice the ultimate successional rights of the children accruing upon the death of either of both[sic] of the parents; but the value of the properties already received under the decree of annulment or absolute nullity shall be considered as advances on their legitime.
(n)
Family Code of the Philippines, Executive Order No. 209, approved July 6, 1987. The Code took effect on August 3, 1988 (Republic v. Orbecido III, G.R. No. 154380, October 5, 2005). Reproduced in full. In the third paragraph the official text reads "either of both of the parents," evidently a printing error for "either or both," carried identically by LawPhil and ChanRobles; it is marked [sic].
What this article means
Where Article 50 orders that the children's presumptive legitimes be delivered, Article 51 supplies the mechanics. The value of each common child's presumptive legitime is fixed as of the date of the trial court's final judgment, and must be delivered in cash, property or sound securities — unless the parents already provided for it by a judicially approved agreement.
A "presumptive legitime" is the share a child would inherit, delivered in advance because the family's property is being liquidated now rather than at a parent's death. The article gives the children (or their guardian or trustee) the standing to enforce the judgment themselves.
An advance, not a final settlement
The closing sentence is important: receiving the presumptive legitime now does not reduce the child's ultimate right to inherit when a parent later dies. Instead, what the child already received is treated as an advance on the legitime — it is credited against, not subtracted from, the eventual inheritance. The child is not being paid off; the timing of part of the inheritance is simply moved forward.
Related provisions
- Article 50 — requires the final judgment to order this delivery.
- Article 52 — the delivery must be recorded to bind third persons.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on the valuation and advance-on-legitime character of Article 51 delivery will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.