Someone asked me, "I have a friend who...
has three sons and a daughter. She is a widow. All her living expenses are paid for by the daughter. The sons are not giving her money regularly. She owns a condo in Binondo, her only asset in her name. Even the maintenance and repair expenses, as well as the taxes of the condo, is paid for by the daughter. Can she write a will to give that condo to her daughter when she dies?"
My answer is she cannot write a will that would give everything to one child only to the exclusion of all the three other children. The law provides for a legitime that is guaranteed share of the children. In her case, this would equal to half of her property. That means she can will away only one-half of her property, with the other half to be share equally by the 4 children.
If the question is one of fairness, then the proper thing for her to do is to write in the will an acknowledgment of her indebtedness to her daughter. She can indicate in the will that before her estate is divided, all the advances made by the daughter for her cost of living should first be reimbursed. In addition, the free portion of her estate shall also be given to that daughter in appreciation for all that she has done.
Lastly, in her will, she could disinherit the three boys if they deliberately refused to give support despite being able to give such support.
No comments:
Post a Comment