Case Digest: Bagunu vs. Piedad. G.R. No. 140975, December 8, 2000

Succession | Rule on Proximity

Art. 962. In every inheritance, the relative nearest in degree excludes the more distant ones, saving the right of representation when it properly takes place.

Ponente:
Vitug, J.:

Facts: 
In 1995, Ofelia Hernando Bagunu intervened in the a special proceeding, asserting entitlement to a share of the estate of the late Augusto H. Piedad.

Ofelia is a collateral relative within the fifth degree of Augusto, being the daughter of the first cousin of Augusto.

Ofelia assailed the finality of the order of the trial court awarding the entire estate to Pastora Piedad, the maternal aunt of Augusto.

RTC-Pasay: Denied Ofelia's motion.

Court of Appeals: Dismissed the appeal.

Issue: 
WoN Ofelia, a collateral relative of the fifth civil degree, inherit alongside respondent, a collateral relative of the third civil degree. NO

Held: 
Augusto H. Piedad died without any direct descendants or ascendants. Respondent is the maternal aunt of the decedent, a third-degree relative of the decedent, while petitioner is the daughter of a first cousin of the deceased, or a fifth-degree relative of the decedent.

The various provisions of the Civil Code on succession embody an almost complete set of law to govern, either by will or by operation of law, the transmission of property, rights and obligations of a person upon his death. Each article is construed in congruity with, rather than in isolation of, the system set out by the Code.

The rule on proximity is a concept that favors the relatives nearest in degree to the decedent and excludes the more distant ones except when and to the extent that the right of representation can apply.  

Thus, Article 962 of the Civil Code provides:

ART. 962.  In every inheritance, the relative nearest in degree excludes the more distant ones, saving the right of representation when it properly takes place.

Relatives in the same degree shall inherit in equal shares, subject to the provisions of article 1006 with respect to relatives of the full and half blood, and of article 987, paragraph 2, concerning division between the paternal and maternal lines.

By right of representation, a more distant blood relative of a decedent is, by operation of law, "raised to the same place and degree" of relationship as that of a closer blood relative of the same decedent.  The representative thereby steps into the shoes of the person he represents and succeeds, not from the latter, but from the person to whose estate the person represented would have succeeded.

ART. 970. Representation is a right created by fiction of law, by virtue of which the representative is raised to the place and the degree of the person represented, and acquires the rights which the latter would have if he were living or if he could have inherited."

ART. 971. The representative is called to the succession by the law and not by the person represented.  The representative does not succeed the person represented but the one whom the person represented would have succeeded.

In the direct line, right of representation is proper only in the descending, never in the ascending line.
In the collateral line, the right of representation may only take place in favor of the children of brothers or sisters of the decedent when such children survive with their uncles or aunts.

ART. 972. The right of representation takes place in the direct descending line, but never in the ascending.

In the collateral line, it takes place only in favor of the children of brothers or sisters, whether they be of the full or half blood.

ART. 974. Whenever there is succession by representation, the division of the estate shall be made per stirpes, in such manner that the representative or representatives shall not inherit more than what the person they represent would inherit, if he were living or could inherit.

ART.  975. When children of one or more brothers or sisters of the deceased survive, they shall inherit from the latter by representation, if they survive with their uncles or aunts.  But if they alone survive, they shall inherit in equal portions.

The right of representation does not apply to "other collateral relatives within the fifth civil degree" (to which group both petitioner and respondent belong) who are sixth in the order of preference following:
  1. firstly, the legitimate children and descendants
  2. secondly, the legitimate parents and ascendants
  3. thirdly, the illegitimate children and descendants
  4. fourthly, the surviving spouse, and 
  5. fifthly, the brothers and sisters/nephews and nieces, of the decedent. 
Among collateral relatives, except only in the case of nephews and nieces of the decedent concurring with their uncles or aunts, the rule of proximity, expressed in Article 962, aforequoted, of the Code, is an absolute rule. In determining the degree of relationship of the collateral relatives to the decedent, Article 966 of the Civil Code gives direction.

Article 966.  x x x  In the collateral line, ascent is made to the common ancestor and then descent is made to the person with whom the computation is to be made. Thus, a person is two degrees removed from his brother, three from his uncle, who is the brother of his father, four from his first cousin and so forth.

Accordingly -

Respondent, being a relative within the third civil degree, of the late Augusto H. Piedad excludes petitioner, a relative of the fifth degree, from succeeding ab intestato to the estate of the decedent.

The provisions of Article 1009 and Article 1010 of the Civil Code -

Article 1009.  Should there be neither brothers nor sisters nor children of brothers or sisters, the other collateral relatives shall succeed to the estate.

The latter shall succeed without distinction of lines or preference among them by reason of relationship by the whole blood.

Article 1010.  The right to inherit ab intestato shall not extend beyond the fifth degree of relationship in the collateral line. -

invoked by petitioner do not at all support her cause. The law means only that among the other collateral relatives (the sixth in the line of succession), no preference or distinction shall be observed "by reason of relationship by the whole blood." In fine, a maternal aunt can inherit alongside a paternal uncle, and a first cousin of the full blood can inherit equally with a first cousin of the half blood, but an uncle or an aunt, being a third-degree relative, excludes the cousins of the decedent, being in the fourth-degree of relationship; the latter, in turn, would have priority in succession to a fifth-degree relative.

WHEREFORE, the instant Petition is DENIED.  No costs.

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