How we can help
Most estates we are asked to fix were left alone for years. Property still sits in a grandparent’s name, the heirs have multiplied, the estate tax has compounded, and nothing can be sold or mortgaged until it is untangled. It is almost always solvable — it is simply cheaper and faster the earlier it is started.
We act for families settling an estate, for heirs in disagreement, and for taxpayers facing a BIR assessment. Where there is a deadline running, we will tell you plainly at the first meeting.
Estate Settlement
Extrajudicial settlement where the heirs agree, and judicial settlement where they do not. We handle the deed, the publication, the bond, and the registration so the transfer actually completes.
Estate Tax Filing
Computation, the BIR return, and the eCAR that the Register of Deeds will require before it transfers anything. We deal with long-unsettled estates and the penalties that have accrued on them.
Wills and Probate
Drafting notarial and holographic wills, probate proceedings, and contested matters such as preterition, disinheritance, and the legitime of compulsory heirs.
Transfer of Inherited Property
Moving title from a deceased owner to the heirs, including property that has sat untransferred for decades and estates where an heir cannot be located or refuses to sign.
Donations and Lifetime Transfers
Donor's tax, donation inter vivos and mortis causa, and structuring lifetime transfers so they are not later set aside as inofficious or disguised.
Tax Assessments and Disputes
Responding to a Letter of Authority, protesting a Preliminary or Final Assessment Notice within the deadlines, and appeals to the Court of Tax Appeals.
Estate and tax commentaries
92 commentaries by Atty. Adrian N. Vivas on estate settlement, succession, and tax.