What do you love about living in the Philippines?

[Mike J]

1 hour ago, Tommy T. said:

Good clarification, Gary. The land ownership situation is so convoluted here with all the most distant relatives able to make claims on any land...

So what you are saying, as I read your comment is that, as a non-citizen inheritor of land, you must still sell or give it away quickly and cannot hold it? I am just asking this rhetorically since I will not experience this situation. Now I am just very curious about the process...

As Gary wrote in his post "it is hard to pin down".  You will hear "you can inherit, but you then have to sell because you cannot own land".  I have heard the same thing but have never seen any evidence that this is in fact really true.  As far as inheritance laws you would be advised to see an attorney who specializes in wills.  He would take not of all relatives and let you know who are compulsory heirs and who are not, the order of inheritance, and how to handle the "free portion" of the estate.  The "free portion" of the state is what remains after the compulsory heirs receive they (by law) share of the estate.

Keep in mind that when a spouse dies the "estate" is 1/2 half of the conjugal property.  It is the remaining half that get divided among heirs including the surviving spouse.

DISCLAIMER:  I know just enough to be dangerous and unreliable.  

 

 

[Mike J]

Now this is interesting.  This article indicates that a foreign spouse can inherit via "hereditary succession", but not via a will.  I assume this is to prevent land being willed to a foreign person who is not hereditary?  

https://lawyerphilippines.org/2016/03/28/can-a-foreigner-inherit-land-in-the-philippines/

Can a foreigner inherit land in the Philippines?
by Atty. Francesco Britanico | Mar 28, 2016 | Property Law, Ownership and Possession

Foreigners in the PhilippinesLandFilipinos Abroad
Calla lilies to denote a funeral and the subsequent inheritance process.
In this example, a foreigner inherits land from his filipino spouse in a childless marriage.

There are many possible variations of this theme. An exhaustive dissertation of all of them would take volumes. This article will discuss one particular, common scenario. In this scenario, a foreigner spouse is married to a Filipino. The Filipino owns land in the Philippines. Let’s assume there are no children, mutual or otherwise, involved. Philippine law prohibits a foreigner from buying land in the Philippines. But what if the Filipino spouse were to pass away? Can the surviving foreigner spouse then inherit the land owned by the deceased Filipino?

Contents[hide]

Yes, a foreigner may inherit land from the Filipino
Yes. The Philippine laws that apply here are the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines and the 1949 Civil Code inherited from Spain.

Field to illustrate an inheritance of land.
Yes, a foreigner can inherit Philippine land if there is no will. Default inheritance rules will then come into play.

Although Sections 3 and 8 of Article XII of the Constitution famously restrict the ownership of land by individuals to Filipinos and former Filipinos, Section 7 of the same Article allows foreign citizens to own land by way of legal inheritance.

Section 7. Save in cases of hereditary succession, no private lands shall be transferred or conveyed except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public domain.

Note that Section 7 speaks of hereditary succession. In legal speak, this means that a foreigner can acquire land through intestate inheritance, i.e. the default laws on inheritance which are not transfers of ownership by way of a last will and testament.

Roses on a church bench to denote a funeral.
A foreigner cannot inherit land through a will.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a transfer of ownership to a foreigner by way of last will and testament would be unconstitutional.

We are of the opinion that the Constitutional provision which enables aliens to acquire private lands does not extend to testamentary succession for otherwise the prohibition will be for naught and meaningless. Any alien would be able to circumvent the prohibition by paying money to a Philippine landowner in exchange for a devise of a piece of land.

Ramirez vs. Vda. de Ramirez, G.R. No. L-27952, February 15, 1982

This means that Section 7, Article XII of the Constitution should be read in relation with the Philippine Civil Code’s provisions on intestate inheritance.

The Philippine Civil Code on Intestate Inheritance
Articles 995, 997 and 1001 of the Civil Code are the specific sections to look at. I’ll give you the entire subsection on a surviving spouse:

Keys in a door to symbolize an estate. 
Without any ascendants or descendants, the spouse shall inherit the entire estate.

Subsection 4. – Surviving Spouse

Art. 995. In the absence of legitimate descendants and ascendants, and illegitimate children and their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, the surviving spouse shall inherit the entire estate, without prejudice to the rights of brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, should there be any, under article 1001. (946a)

Art. 996. If a widow or widower and legitimate children or descendants are left, the surviving spouse has in the succession the same share as that of each of the children. (834a)

Art. 997. When the widow or widower survives with legitimate parents or ascendants, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to one-half of the estate, and the legitimate parents or ascendants to the other half. (836a)

Art. 998. If a widow or widower survives with illegitimate children, such widow or widower shall be entitled to one-half of the inheritance, and the illegitimate children or their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, to the other half. (n)

Padlock and keys to denote inheritance of an estate.
With ascendants, the spouse inherits half of the estate.

Art. 999. When the widow or widower survives with legitimate children or their descendants and illegitimate children or their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, such widow or widower shall be entitled to the same share as that of a legitimate child. (n)

Art. 1000. If legitimate ascendants, the surviving spouse, and illegitimate children are left, the ascendants shall be entitled to one-half of the inheritance, and the other half shall be divided between the surviving spouse and the illegitimate children so that such widow or widower shall have one-fourth of the estate, and the illegitimate children the other fourth. (841a)

Art. 1001. Should brothers and sisters or their children survive with the widow or widower, the latter shall be entitled to one-half of the inheritance and the brothers and sisters or their children to the other half. (953, 837a)

Art. 1002. In case of a legal separation, if the surviving spouse gave cause for the separation, he or she shall not have any of the rights granted in the preceding articles. (n)

These articles should be read in relation to Article 985 of the same Code.

Article 985. In default of legitimate children and descendants of the deceased, his parents and ascendants shall inherit from him, to the exclusion of collateral relatives. (935a)

The Inheritance Rights of the Foreign Spouse
So given our scenario of a childless Filipina wife who owns land in the Philippines, should she pass away without a will, what are the legal inheritance rights of her foreign, surviving husband?

A question mark on a wooden floor, as the entire post has been about this question. 
So, what are the legal rights of her surviving husband?

Answer:

He can inherit her property (including land), subject to the shares of her surviving relatives.

1) If the Filipina wife were to pass away with none of her parents or siblings still living, the foreign widower would be entitled to his wife’s entire estate.

2) If the Filipina wife were to pass away with her parents and siblings still living, the foreign widower would be entitled to half his wife’s estate and her parents to the other half.

3) If the Filipina wife were to pass away after her parents had already passed away and with her siblings still living, the foreign widower would be entitled to half his wife’s estate and her siblings to the other half.

Houses on their plots of land from the air as an example. A foreigner can own the house but not the land.
The foreigner spouse may own the house built on land, which helps reduce his risk later on.

There are other aspects of the law you might consider in practice.

A foreigner cannot own land, but he can own the house built on it. A thorough documentation of his costs and acquisition of the house in his name, amply corroborated by other evidence, can establish that at least the house will not be part of his deceased wife’s estate. This reduces the extent of his exposure to problems down the line.

It might also be possible for the wife to encumber the Title to the land in some way — via her making a limited will or through an annotation on the Title or through some other deed (such as a lease agreement if this is allowed under their marriage settlement) — so as to protect her widower’s use of the land for at least his lifetime.

A group of seagulls excluding one member to signify disinheritance.
Disinheritance of other family members is quite difficult.

There are more extreme scenarios of the wife executing a will that explicitly disinherits other members of her family for strong reasons (check out Articles 919, 920 and 921 of the Civil Code), leaving her husband her sole heir, but these should certainly not be the first recourse without strong cause when other legal ways can be put in place.

[Tommy T.]

 

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

Now this is interesting.  This article indicates that a foreign spouse can inherit via "hereditary succession", but not via a will.  I assume this is to prevent land being willed to a foreign person who is not hereditary?  

The articles you just quoted make for boring but fascinating reading Mike. Thanks for sharing them.

They lead me to reiterate my previous post that the land ownership laws here are convoluted and confusing. I can easily imagine anyone who thinks they have a claim on any property could file that claim and tie everything up in the courts. That, itself, could cause someone to maybe say... okay, fine...here's P5,000 for you to shut up and go away? L has told me about the problems with land ownership and the nieces, nephews, cousins 10x removed who suddenly surface with claims for property ownership.

@Huggybearman 's comment cements these articles with some real fact. Land ownership here seems to be a morass that almost nobody can understand.... Perhaps that is the intent?

Whatever... it can make the low paid attorneys here perhaps make a bit more than minimum wage?

Thanks, Mike and bearman for sharing your information and experiences. This has been quite educational.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Tommy T.

[jimeve]

There was a debate going on about this last year.

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by jimeve
info

[Arizona Kid]

On 11/9/2019 at 2:00 PM, boyee said:

On this forum I read a lot of guys complaining about many of the things that are irritating about living in the Philippines compared to their western home country.  I think this is normal to vent your frustrations however I must believe that because you are still living in this beautiful country there must be more wonderful things that keep you there.  I'd like to know what those things are.

I'll go first.  I am not a fan of super loud singing or blasting car horns but I absolutely love to wake up to a cock crowing, a few motorbikes speeding by and the sound of someone yelling Taho from the distance.  Don't get that back at home and it just reminds me of the Philippines.  

I love the food!  Filipino food most of all but all kinds of food seems to taste better in the Philippines.  I especially love street food.

I love to see kids playing in the streets with a smile on their face.  Kids with home made sidewalk games instead of peering into their phones.  

What do you love about the Philippines that you just don't have in your homeland?

 

I don't think about living in the Philippines anymore. Been here since 2002. First visit 1971. It's my home.

[gery0x]

23 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

And, unfortunately, a number of the relatives or friends show up empty handed expecting to be fed and watered too.... Sure, that is basic hospitality to provide that with anyone, especially those close to us, but to expect without offering anything? That bothers her even more than me...

That's more than understandable! Relatives who show up expecting to be fed and watered on a regular basis are not really welcome in our house aswell.

Luckily I (my wife) don't have many of those.

For this topic, to separate the sheep from the goats, I started instating a very simple rule quite early at the beginning of my expat-ship: "If you borrow money from me and you pay me back, I will lend again. If you don't pay me back, then never ask me again."

For me, this worked like a charm from the beginning! :)

 

23 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Enjoy your time here gery0x and please feel free to ask me anything regarding Philippines or Davao...

Thanks a lot and it's nice to hear that a fellow Dabawenyo is on board here!

 

22 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

They now pile the stacks of banknotes into a plastic (cello) bag and then load that into my backpack that I hand over the teller window...

Well that, frankly, sounds like a bank robbery out of the movies hahaha :D

 

6 hours ago, Mike J said:

A foreigner can own the house but not the land.
The foreigner spouse may own the house built on land, which helps reduce his risk later on.

Yes I have heard that too, but let's be serious: will this really work out in the end, i mean do we have any knowledge of stories about this bringing any advantage to any foreigner?

I highly believe that this is just theoretical thinking without many real chances for foreigners in front of a court - but that's only my opinion, so please set me right.

 

[Mike J]

1 hour ago, gery0x said:

8 hours ago, Mike J said:

A foreigner can own the house but not the land.
The foreigner spouse may own the house built on land, which helps reduce his risk later on.

Yes I have heard that too, but let's be serious: will this really work out in the end, i mean do we have any knowledge of stories about this bringing any advantage to any foreigner?

I highly believe that this is just theoretical thinking without many real chances for foreigners in front of a court - but that's only my opinion, so please set me right

The bit about owning the house, but not the land it sits on is from the article but you can find the same information on a variety of sites including attorney websites.  Personally I don't think it makes any sense and I can't imagine a scenario where anyone would want to do it.  But it is legal, there is no law against owning a house, it just does not seem to make sense (at least to me).   

[Mike J]

6 hours ago, jimeve said:

There was a debate going on about this last year.

 

Thanks for that reminder!  I need to read through that thread and see if I can find if my scenario is listed.

[GeoffH]

11 hours ago, Mike J said:

Personally I don't think it makes any sense and I can't imagine a scenario where anyone would want to do it.  But it is legal, there is no law against owning a house, it just does not seem to make sense (at least to me).   

Not quite the same thing... but we paid for a  nipa hut to be built on a family lot in Ozamiz.  There is a worker who stays in it and watches the lot to ensure that the plants planted by the family don't get stolen after they're planted and before they're harvested.  The hut can be shifted easily and moved to another location (in fact new ones are delivered by truck).  We don't get any income from the lot, the hut was put there because the family were losing produce and now the losses are much less.

It seems to me that since I paid for it that that's 'my hut' and at first reading it seems to me that the law you're talking about would apply to it

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by GeoffH

[Viking]

3 hours ago, Mike J said:

The bit about owning the house, but not the land it sits on is from the article but you can find the same information on a variety of sites including attorney websites.  Personally I don't think it makes any sense and I can't imagine a scenario where anyone would want to do it.  But it is legal, there is no law against owning a house, it just does not seem to make sense (at least to me).   

Does this mean that if the sh..t hits the fan in the relationship, that the foreigner is free to do what he wants with the house?? Understand that it would be hard to sell it, but can one just demolish it and sell it as scrap?? Theoretically speaking