Family and Inheritance Law: Status, Property, and Succession
Family law
Family law tests marriage and its formation and dissolution, the property regime of spouses, and the rights of children. Know the difference between marital property (acquired during marriage) and separate property, and the rules on division on divorce. Understand parentage, parental responsibility, and the best interests of the child as the governing principle. Learn the rules on maintenance (spousal and child), adoption, and guardianship.
Inheritance law
Master the two bases of succession: statutory and testamentary. Know the order of statutory heirs and the position of the surviving spouse. Understand the forced share (legitimate portion) of close relatives and the grounds for disinheritance. Learn the forms of wills and their formal requirements, the rules on interpretation, and the effect of a later will. Know the rules on acceptance and renunciation of inheritance, and liability for the deceased's debts up to the value of the estate.
Traps
Questions confuse the marital property share with the inheritance share of the surviving spouse, which are separate entitlements. Another trap is treating a defective will as wholly void when it may be partly valid or converted. Watch for the rule that renunciation must be declared within the statutory period.
Rule of thumb
In any succession problem, first determine the estate, then the basis of succession (will or statute), then the forced shares, then the final distribution.
Worked example
A dies leaving a spouse and two children. The estate is divided in equal parts among the spouse and both children under the statutory order, but the spouse first takes her marital property share from the joint property before the estate is computed.