Property Inherited: Is It An Exclusive Property?
Yesterday, a walk-in client, a widower, sought a legal advice about the property he inherited from his parents. He would like to sell said property for his personal consumption. However, his children objected the idea saying that said property is a part of the absolute community property of their parents. It is true that said property was inherited by the widower after he got married to his wife. According to the Family Code of the Philippines, the community property shall consist of ALL the property owned by the spouses at the time of the celebration of the marriage or acquired thereafter (Article 91). Further, the Family Code provides what are EXCLUDED from the community property. These are the EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY of either spouse. These are: 1. Property acquired during the marriage by gratuitous title by either spouse, and the fruits as well as the income thereof, if any, unless it is expressly provided by the donor, testator or grantor that they shall form part of the c...