BOOK THREE Succession TITLE I General Provisions

. Art. 89. Succession defined. Succession is a mode of acquisition by virtue of which the estate of a person is transmitted to his heirs or others in accordance with this code. Art. 90. Successional rights, when vested. The rights to succession are transmitted from the moment of the death of the decedent. The right to succession of any heir who predeceases the decedent shall not be transmitted by right of representation to his own heirs. Art. 91. Requisites of succession. No settlement of the estate of a deceased person shall be effected unless: (a) The death of the decedent is ascertained; (b) The successor is alive at the time of the death of the decedent; and (c) The successor is not disqualified to inherit. Art. 92. Inheritance (Mirath). The inheritance of a person includes all properties of any kind, movable or immovable, whether ancestral or acquired either by onerous or gratuitous title, as well as all transmissible rights and obligations at the time of his death and those that accrue thereto before partition. Art. 93. Disqualifications to succession. The following shall be disqualified to succeed: (a) Those who have intentionally caused directly or indirectly the death of the decedent; (b) Those who have committed any other act which constitutes a ground for disqualification to inherent under Islamic law; and (c) Those who are so situated that they cannot inherit under Islamic law. Art. 94. Succession from acknowledging person. Without prejudice to the order of succession of heirs, mutual rights of inheritance shall obtain: (a) Between the acknowledging father and the acknowledged child; and (b) Between the kinsman acknowledged through another person and the acknowledger. Art. 95. Succession by illegitimate child. A child who was the cause of the mother's having been divorced by li'an shall have mutual rights of succession only with the mother and her relatives. Art. 96. Succession between divorced persons. (1) The husband who divorces his wife shall have mutual rights of inheritance with her while she is observing her 'idda. After the expiration of the 'idda, there shall be no mutual rights of succession between them.

(2) The husband who, while in a condition of death-illness, divorces his wife shall not inherit from her, but she shall have the right to succeed him even after the expiration of her 'idda. Art. 97. Succession by conceived child. A child conceived at the time of the death of the decedent shall be considered an heir provided it be born later in accordance with Article 10; its corresponding share shall be reserved before the estate is distributed. Art. 98. Succession by absentee. The share of an heir who is missing or otherwise absent at the time of the death of the decedent shall be reserved: (a) Until he reappears and claims it; (b) Until he is proven dead; or (c) Until the lapse of ten years after which he shall be presumed dead by decree of the court. Art. 99. Order of succession. The heirs of a decedent shall inherit in the following order: (a) Sharers (ashab-ul-furud) shall be entitled to fixed shares; (b) Residuaries (ashab-ul-mirath) shall be entitled to the residue; .chan robles virtual law library (c) In the absence of the foregoing, the distant kindred (dhaw-ul-arham) who are blood relatives but are neither sharers nor residuaries; and (d) In default of the above, the acknowledged kinsman, universal legatee, or the public treasury (bait-ul-mal), in that order. Art. 100. Modes of Succession. Succession my be: (a) By will (wasiya); (b) By operation of this Code; or (c) By combination of both.

TITLE II Testamentary Succession CHAPTER I Wills Art. 101. Will defined. A will (wasiya) is a declaration whereby a person is permitted, with the formalities prescribed by law, to control the disposition after his death of not more than one-third of his estate, if there are heirs, or the whole of it, if there are no heirs or distant kindred.

Art. 102. Formalities. (1) The making of a will is strictly a personal act; it cannot be left in whole or in part to the discretion of a third person or accomplished through the instrumentality of an agent. (2) A will may be declared orally or in writing in a manner that shows clearly the intention of the testator to execute it in the presence of a least two competent, credible and disinterested witnesses. Art. 103. Proof of will. (1) No nuncupative will shall pass any property of the decedent unless it is proved and allowed in accordance with a solemn oath or affirmation of all the witnesses who attested to its declaration. (2) No will of any other kind, holographic or formal, shall pass any property unless it is proved and allowed in accordance with this Code. Art. 104. Testamentary wagf . An endowment for Islamic purposes to take effect after the death of the donor (wagf-bill-wasiya) partakes of the nature of a testamentary disposition Art. 105. Capacity to make a will. Any person of sound and disposing mind and who is not expressly prohibited by Islamic law may make a will. Persons of either sex under the age of puberty cannot make a will. Art. 106. Disposable third. (1) The testator, in his will, cannot dispose of more than onethird of his estate. Any bequest in excess thereof shall not be given effect unless ratified by the heirs. In any case, the bequest must be accepted by the legatee. (2) A bequest to any sharer or residuary shall not be valid unless ratified by the testator's heirs existing at the time of his death. Art. 107. Bequest by operation of law. Should the testator die without having made a bequest in favor of any child of his son who predeceased him, or who simultaneously dies with him, such child shall be entitled to one-third of the share that would have pertained to the father if he were alive. The parent or spouse, who is otherwise disqualified to inherit in view of Article 93 (c), shall be entitled to one-third of what he or she would have received without such disqualification. Art. 108. Revocation of will. Will may be expressly or impliedly revoked by the testator at any time before his death. Any waiver or restriction of this right shall be void. Art. 109.Partial invalidity of will. The invalidity of one of several provisions of a will shall not result in the invalidity of the others, unless it is to be presumed that the testator would not have made such other provisions if the first invalid provision had not been made.

TITLE III Legal Succession CHAPTER I Shares

Art. 110. Who are sharers. The following persons shall be entitled to the inheritance as sharers to the extent set forth in the succeeding articles: (a) The husband, the wife; (b) The father, the mother, the grandfather, the grandmother; (c) The daughter and the son's daughter in the direct line; (d) The full sister, the consanguine sister, the uterine sister and the uterine brother. Art. 111. Share of surviving husband. The husband surviving together with a legitimate child or a child of the decedent's son shall be entitled to one-fourth of the hereditary estate; should there be no such descendants, he shall inherit one-half of the estate. Art. 112. Share of surviving wife. The wife surviving together with a legitimate child or a child of the decedent's son shall be entitled to one-eight of the hereditary estate; in the absence of such descendants, she shall inherit one-fourth of the estate. Art. 113. Share of surviving father. The father succeeding together with the legitimate son of the decedent or a son of the decedent's son shall be entitled, as sharer, to one-sixth of the hereditary estate. The father who succeeds together with a legitimate daughter of the decedent or a daughter of the decedent's son shall inherit, as sharer, one-sixth of the inheritance without prejudice to his share as residuary. Art. 114. Share of surviving mother. The mother succeeding as sharer together with a child or a child of the decedent's son, or with two or more brothers or sisters of the decedent, shall be entitled to one-sixth of the hereditary estate. Should she survive without any such descendant or with only one brother or sister, she shall inherit one-third of the estate. Art. 115. Share of paternal grandfather. The paternal grandfather succeeding together with the child of the decedent or, in default thereof, with his descendants in the direct male line however, distant, shall be entitled to one-sixth of the hereditary estate. Should he survive with any sharer other than the brothers or sisters of the decedent, he shall be entitled to one-sixth without prejudice to his right as a residuary. Art. 116. Share of paternal grandmother. The paternal grandmother succeeding in default of the mother, father, or intermediate grandfather of the decedent shall be entitled, as sharer, to one-sixth of the hereditary estate. Art. 117. Share of surviving daughter. (1) If the decedent leaves no son but one daughter, the latter shall be entitled to inherit, as sharer, one-half of the hereditary estate. Two or more daughters shall share equally two-thirds thereof. Should one or more daughters survive with one or more sons of the decedent, the latter shall be entitled to double the share of the former. (2) Should a lone daughter of the decedent survive together with his son's daughter, the two-thirds share shall be divided between them, one-half thereof to pertain to the former and one-sixth of the latter.

Art. 118. Share of son's daughter. The son's daughter shall, in the absence of any child of the decedent, be entitled to one-half of the hereditary estate. Two or more daughters of the decedent's son shall share the two-thirds of the estate per capita. Art. 119. Share of full sister. Should the decedent leave neither descendant, father, nor full brother, the full sister, shall be entitled as sharer to the extent of one-half of the hereditary estate. Two or more full sisters shall inherit two-thirds of the estate per capita. Art. 120. Share of consanguine sister. Should the decedent leave neither descendent, full brother, nor full sister, the consanguine sister shall be entitled to one-half of the hereditary estate. Two or more consanguine sisters shall inherit two-thirds of the estate per capita. Art. 121. Share of uterine brother or sister. The share of a uterine brother or sister shall be one-sixth of the hereditary estate should there be no surviving descendant, father, paternal grandfather, or full brother and sister of the decedent. Two or more uterine brothers or sisters shall inherit one-third of the estate per capita. Art. 122. Participation of full brother. (1) One or more full brothers and sisters surviving together, or one or more consanguine brothers or sisters surviving together, shall participate in the hereditary estate, a brother to inherit double the share of a sister. (2) The provision of the next succeeding article notwithstanding, the full brother shall, if nothing is left for him after the distribution of shares and he survives with uterine brothers, participate with the latter in the one-third of the hereditary estate per capita. Art. 123. Exclusion among heirs. The exclusion of heirs from the inheritance shall be governed by the following rules: (a) In the same line, the relative nearest in degree excludes the more remote. (b) Full-blood relatives exclude the consanguine and the uterine. (c) Whoever is related to the decedent through any person shall not inherit while the latter is living, except in the case of a mother concurring with her children. (d) Heirs who, in a particular case, do not succeed by reason of disqualification on any ground shall not exclude others.

CHAPTER II Residuary Heirs Art. 124. Residuaries. Any residue left after the distribution of the shares shall be partitioned among the residuaries in accordance with the following articles. An heir may succeed as residuary in his own right (asaba-bin-nafs), in another's right (asaba-bil-ghair), or together with another (asaba-ma'al-ghair). Art. 125. Residuaries in their own right. The following persons are residuaries in their own right: (a) Male descendants of the decedent in the direct line, however, distant in degree;

(b) Male ascendants of the decedent in the direct line, however distant in degree; (c) Full-blood or consanguine brothers of the decedent and their male descendants, however, distant in degree; and (d) Full-blood or consanguine paternal uncles of the decedent and their male descendants, however distant in degree. Art. 126. Residuaries in another's right. The following persons shall succeed as residuaries in another's right: (a) Daughters surviving with the son of the decedent; (b) Son's daughters surviving with their own brothers; (c) Full sisters surviving with their full brothers; and (d) Consanguine sisters surviving with their consanguine brothers. Art. 127. Residuaries together with another. Full-blood or consanguine sisters, surviving with daughters of the decedent or with the son's daughters, however, distant in degree from the decedent, are residuaries together with another. Art. 128. Preference among residuaries. Preference among residuaries shall be governed by the following rules: (a) The residuary nearer in degree shall be preferred to the more remote of the same class. (b) The residuary with full-blood relationship shall be preferred to those of the half-blood of the same degree of relationship in the same class. (c) The residuaries of the same class, degree and blood relationship shall share equally, subject to the rule of the male having a share double that of the female in proper cases. Art. 129. Reduction of shares. If the totality of all the shares assigned to each of the sharers exceeds the whole inheritance, the shares shall be reduced proportionately. Art. 130. Reversion of residue. If, after distributing the portions of the sharers, a residue is left in the inheritance and there is no surviving residuary heir, the same shall revert in its entirety to the lone sharer or to all the sharers in proportion to their respective shares. However, the husband or the wife shall not be entitled to any part of the reverted portion as long as there are other sharers or distant kindred.

CHAPTER III Distant Kindred (Dhaw-ul-arham) .chan robles virtual law library Art. 131. Relatives included. Distant kindred includes the following: (a) The daughter's children and the children of the son's daughter and their descendants

(b) The excluded grandfather and the excluded grandmother; (c) The sister's children, the brother's daughters, the sons of the uterine brother, and their descendants; and (d) The paternal aunts, the uterine uncles and the maternal aunts and uncles. Art. 132. Extent and distribution of shares. In default of all sharers and residuaries, the distant kindred shall inherit the entire hereditary estate, the same to be distributed among them in accordance with Articles 123 and 128.

TITLE IV Settlement and Partition of Estate Art. 133. Administration. The administration of the estate of a decedent shall, for purposes of settlement, vest at the time of his death in the executor appointed in the will or, in the absence thereof, in his heir or administrator to whom the court has granted letters of administration. Art. 134. Governing school of law. (1) In every petition for probate of will or for the settlement of the estate of a decedent, all matters relating to the appointment of administrator, powers and duties of administrator or executor, the court shall take into consideration the school of law (madhhab) of the decedent. (2) If the decedent's madhhab is not known, the Shafi'i school of law may be given preference together with the special rules of procedure adopted pursuant to this Code. Art. 135. Order of preference of claims. The estate of a decedent shall be applied to claims and charges in the following order: (a) unpaid taxes; (b) reasonable funeral expenses; (c) the expenses for probate, administration and other judicial expenses; (d) the debts of the decedent; (e) the legacies to the extent of the disposable one-third; (f) the distribution of shares among heirs; and (g) unpaid dower. Art. 136. Liability of heirs. The liability of the heirs of a decedent for the payment of the matter's debts shall not exceed the hereditary estate. Each heir shall be liable only for the payment of the decedent's debt in proportion to his share.