Extrajudicial Settlement of Estate: Basic Discussion

When a person dies intestate (which means he left no will) the competent court shall appoint a qualified administrator for the estate. The same rule applies even if the person dies testate (which means that he left a will) if the will failed to name an executor in his will, or if the named executor is incompetent, or refuses the trust, or fails to furnish the bond required by the Rules of Court. One exception to this is the extrajudicial settlement of estate.

Extrajudicial Settlement of Estate in the Philippines

We have a previous discussion on wills and probate of wills (see Basic Concepts in Estate Proceedings; Basic Discussion on Last Will and Testament and Holographic Wills). A will must be presented in court, through probate proceedings, and this judicial process may take some time. A much faster way of disposing of properties left behind by the deceased person, known as the decedent, is through an extrajudicial settlement of estate.

An extrajudicial settlement of estate, however, presupposes that the decedent left no will. As previously noted, a person who has custody of a will is under obligation to produce it. The requirements for a valid extrajudicial settlement of estate are:

  • 1. The decedent left no will.
  • 2. The decedent left no debts, or if there were debts left, all had been paid.
  • 3. The heirs are all of age, or if they are minors, the latter are represented by their judicial guardian or legal representatives.
  • 4. The partition was made by means of a public instrument or affidavit duly filed with the Register of Deeds.

The affidavit must be executed by the heirs and must contain the necessary allegations to support a valid extrajudicial settlement of estate. The affidavit shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks.

P&L Law

50 thoughts on “Extrajudicial Settlement of Estate: Basic Discussion

  1. eosales

    HI,

    This is my story… my friend is the only son wherein his mother died several years ago and his father left them when he was 8 yrs old. Now he wanted to sell their house and lot… what is the procedures to buy that house and is his father has still right for the said property? thanks!

    Reply
  2. jeh

    good day!

    ako po ay may auntie na namatay na walang naiwang last will. mag 6 na buwan na po mula ng sya ay mamatay. itatanong ko lang po ang hakbang ng pagpapaextra judicial. sino po ba ang magpoproseso nito. kapatid po ng aking ina ang namayapa kong auntie.magkano rin po kaya ang aking magagastos?

    salamat po!

    Reply
  3. petals31

    hello…just wanted to know: what is the legal right of my husband to my properties as a wife which i acquired through heirship from my dead parents? pls enlighten me on this matter…

    Reply
  4. Greenpipe03

    Good Day!!
    Just want to ask for some advice about the estate left by my grandparents who died in the US in the 80’s and left a small residential lot..it was not partitioned by my father and my relatives after my grandma died in 1987. My grandparents died without a will and left a 864 sqm lot with a zonal valuation of Php 1,150.00/sqm to be partitioned by the heirs…7 parts to be exact…consisting of six legitimate siblings and 1 illegitimate aunt.

    I’m afraid that we will be paying a big amount of estate tax plus penalties since it was not partitioned for more than 25 years. I want to seek some clarification about the rate for the estate tax, the computation of penalties that we might be paying before we can partition the lot and the procedure that we need to go through.

    Thank you in advance and I hope that I can be enlightened on this matter.

    Reply
  5. tiong.go

    Good day Atty Fred. My father want to sell his inherited property in the province and his wife died recently. The description in in the Title indicates “married to”. Does he still need to get the consent of his children to be able to sell it? Can he sell it directly without his children’s approval?

    It would be very helpful if you can give me an advice on this matter.

    Reply
  6. jeanevie

    Good afternoon po. I would like to inquire po pano po mgprepare ng certificate of CPA for Statement of assets and networth na requirement po para sa extrajudicial process.

    Thanks

    Reply
  7. kenjie

    good eve po.
    need advise atty.
    paano namin ma re2cover ang lot namin na binenta ng tiyahin namin peru hindi siya direct heir. nabenta kasi yung lupa dahil mga paslit pa lamang kami noon. And now we found out that she give us only a portion of our land. Can we recover po the land though she sold it sa ibang tao?
    Thank you…

    Reply
  8. Shia

    Ask ko lng po sana, nakabili po kami ng lupa, meron po extra judicial n ginawa ang asawa with their 2minor kids dahil patay n yung asawa nya n lalaki.

    Paano po ba mag transfe na hindi n mag appral s korte since meron nman nag represent pag benta ng property yun ay ang asawang babae na nag represent sa mga anak nya. Gusto q po malaman sana ang mainam n gawin ty po

    Reply
  9. candy

    Hi atty.

    Question ko.
    May iniwang lupa ang aking lola. patay na din po ang aking lolo. Total of 293sqm. 146.5sqm of that property (heresay) binigay da wng lola ko dun sa panganay nyang anak. then another 146.5sqm is vacant. I am planning to buy the 73.25 sqm of that property. Paano po ba ang pinakamagandang process pra mapalipat sa pangalan ko.

    Reply
  10. armando

    gd day atty fred, may tanong lng po ako

    .pwede ho ba mag execute ng extrajudicial partition sa isang parcela lng po among heirs of decedent, at hindi i include ang iba pong parcela na pagaari pa rin ng decedent?

    Reply

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