Civil Law: Obligations, Property, Family and Succession
What the exam tests
This domain covers the Law on Obligational Relationships, the Law on Property and Other Real Rights, the Family Law and the Law on Inheritance, testing whether you can classify a claim correctly and apply the right remedy.
Obligations
- A contract forms by offer and acceptance; causa and capacity matter, but consideration is not required.
- Nullity covers contracts contrary to mandatory rules, public morals or concluded by incapable persons. Voidability covers error, fraud, threat and unfair advantage, and must be invoked within the short statutory period.
- Breach gives performance, repair, price reduction or damages, including lost profit and foreseeable consequential loss. Default interest runs from notice.
Property
Ownership of immovables transfers by a valid legal ground plus registration in the cadastre; handover alone transfers only possession. Possession is protected by a separate possessory action. Acquisition by prescription requires lawful, bona fide, continuous possession for the statutory period.
Family and succession
Marital property is jointly acquired and divided on divorce, with contribution-based adjustment. Custody follows the best interests of the child. On intestacy, children and the spouse take first; a reserved share protects children, spouse and parents against a will.
Worked example
A buyer pays the full price for an apartment, receives the keys, but never registers. The buyer holds only an obligatory claim; the seller remains owner, and the seller's creditor may seize the flat. The buyer's remedy is contractual damages, not a claim of ownership.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing void and voidable contracts and missing rescission periods.
- Assuming handover of an immovable transfers ownership.
- Treating possession as proof of ownership.
- Forgetting the reduction action protecting forced heirs.