is named G. He married J (mom of then 4-year old A) in 1990. They had two kids together -- G1 and G2. J abandoned the family in 1993 and just disappeared. A was left to the care of G. G filed for declaration of presumptive death of J since she was nowhere to be found since 1995. The court granted the declaration in 2000. G had a common law wife in 1996 with whom he had three kids, G3, G4, and G5. But despite securing the declaration of presumptive death, G never married his common law wife. G died in 2012 leaving no will to the family. Up to the time of the cremation of G, J never showed up. Is the common law wife entitled to inherit from his estate? How will the estate be divided?
My answer is the common law wife will not be entitled to inherit from the estate because they were not married so she is not a compulsory heirs. However, they were living in together without any impediment to marry, they will be under Art 147 special co-ownership, so she has a right to half of those properties that they acquired during their marriage.
The children will be the sole heirs of G. G1 and G2 were born within a valid marriage so they are considered legitimate. The mother of G3, G4 and G5 was never married to G hence the three are illegitimate. The illegitimate gets half of what a legitimate gets so the ratio is as follows:
Legitimate 2 x 2 = 4
Illegitimate 3 x 1 = 3
Total 7
G1 and G2 each gets 2/7 while G3, G4 and G5 each gets 1/7. A not being related by blood gets nothing.
Adapted from Law131 Final Exam Question of Ena Angela M. Oculto
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