Inheritance Law 101 (Succession Law). Computations.
a few minutes. have to work now early morning, before dawn, didn’t work yesterday (Sunday) because it would disrupt my circadian rhythm, that’s how well i know my sync, when it gets disrupted, the entire week goes out of whack.
i have a few minutes though, i can spare a few notes, a few minutes. Because i like computations. Exercises in succession law. Kris Aquino said that she and husband James Yap arrived at a settlement but because she did not have a pre-nup (pre-nuptial agreement), she said “Nalugi talaga si Josh (her first-born)” (“Josh really got the short end of it.”)
Here’s how that goes.
Let’s just use round, “unspecified” figures. If you have the amount of 100, and one offspring and not married to the parent of your child, your child is your sole heir and his legitime (what he would inherit later on) is the entire amount (100).
If you have two children, they will have equal legitimes.
If you have one child, then got married thereafter and your spouse had 10 and you have 100, without a pre-nup, those amounts are combined in what is called absolute community property, add it up, it’s 110.
In case of a split up, your estranged spouse gets half of it, and the children’s legitimes will be gotten from what remains (the other half), plus the second child (let’s call him “Bimby”, the child born of the marriage with the estranged spouse), being able also to inherit from his father the estranged spouse.
That means the first child’s legitime will be gotten only from the other half; generally. (and i don’t know if the settlement had other terms).
This means that, in this case, if the entire amount or absolute community property is 110 million, the estranged spouse gets 55 million, generally. The two children’s legitimes (amount they would inherit) would be gotten from the other 55 million, or a legitime of 27.5 million each, plus the second child can still inherit from the father.
So, your first child who had a legitime of 100 million before the marriage, now has only, generally, 27.5 million. Half of your hard-earned money, the fruits of your years and years of hard, painstaking work and heartaches, half of that goes to the estranged spouse. You’ll never get it back. When the estranged spouse gets married without a pre-nup, that amount becomes the property of the new marriage of your estranged spouse and if they have children, those children and their mother will get their legitimes from that amount too. In other words, half of your property will eventually go to strangers in case of a split-up; well, your second child can still inherit from the father but he will share the inheritance with the siblings of the subsequent marriage.
That’s how it goes, talagang ganun ang nakalagay.
Generally, those who have children of a previous marriage or a previous relationship are advised to have a pre-nup to protect the interest of the children of the previous relationship; it’s not for your benefit, it’s for their benefit (your children’s), so your property won’t go to strangers, the property would go back to your own child or children.
And that’s why she said “Talagang lugi si Josh…”
……computations are a good exercise, they can jumpstart your morning so you awaken fast…. and i have to write a memo now….
and the lucky color of the day says the morning show astrologer is orange..
