Understanding property inheritance often means looking beyond the moment of death to the legal concepts of possession and time. When an individual passes away, the transfer of property is governed not just by wills and succession, but also by the laws surrounding the possession of that property.
Central to this is Article 533 of the Civil Code, which dictates the fundamental rule of hereditary possession.
The Principle of Uninterrupted Possession (Article 533)
The law establishes a seamless transition of rights and obligations from the decedent (the deceased) to the heir:
Article 533: The possession of hereditary property is deemed transmitted to the heir without interruption and from the moment of the death of the decedent, in case the inheritance is accepted.
One who validly renounces an inheritance is deemed never to have possessed the same.
This means that whether the inheritance is through a will (testate) or without one (intestate), the heir automatically becomes the owner and is considered to have been in continuous possession from the exact moment the decedent died, provided the heir accepts the inheritance.
The Effect of Repudiation
The reverse is also true for an heir who chooses to reject or renounce the inheritance (repudiation). Even if the repudiation happens months after the decedent’s death, the heir is deemed never to have possessed the inheritance. The legal timeline for that heir is erased, ensuring clarity on who legally holds the property rights.
Why the Start Date Matters: Tacking for Prescription
The most significant consequence of possession starting immediately upon death relates to acquiring ownership of unregistered property through prescription (also known as acquisitive prescription).
Prescription is the legal means of acquiring title to property by possessing it openly, continuously, and adversely for a statutory period. The required periods are:
Ordinary Prescription: Ten (10) years, if possession is in good faith and with just title.
Extraordinary Prescription: Thirty (30) years, if neither good faith nor just title is present.
The Power of Tacking
The legal fiction that possession is transmitted without interruption allows the heir to perform tacking of possession. This means the heir can add the decedent’s period of possession to their own period of possession to meet the required time limit for prescription.
Example of Tacking: Suppose a father possessed an unregistered piece of land in good faith for three (3) years. Upon his death, his son inherits the land. The son, believing the father was the rightful owner (good faith, just title through succession), possesses it for nine (9) more years.
Father’s possession: 3 years
Son’s possession: 9 years
Total Possession: 12 years
Since only ten years are required for ordinary prescription, the son successfully acquires full ownership, and any subsequent action by the true owner to recover the land will fail.
Inheriting Bad Faith: The Rule of Personal Liability (Article 534)
A crucial protective measure for heirs involves the concept of good faith and bad faith possession.
Article 534: One who succeeds by hereditary title shall not suffer the consequences of the wrongful possession of the decedent, if it is not shown that he was aware of the flaws affecting it; but the effects of possession in good faith shall not benefit him except from the date of death of the decedent.
This is vital because bad faith is considered a personal state of mind and is non-transmissible. The heir is protected from suffering the consequences of the decedent’s wrongful actions. Even if the father was a possessor in bad faith, the son is legally presumed to be in good faith unless proven otherwise.
However, the benefit of the heir’s good faith only starts from the date of death of the decedent.
Calculating the Period When Faith Differs
When the decedent was in bad faith but the heir is in good faith, the calculation for ordinary prescription (10 years) changes:
The heir’s good faith possession starts counting from the moment of death.
The decedent’s period of bad faith possession is not entirely discarded but is converted into an equivalent period of good faith possession, using a 3:1 ratio.
The Conversion Rule: Three (3) years of bad faith possession is equivalent to one (1) year of good faith possession.
Example of Conversion: If a father possessed land in bad faith for six (6) years:
Convert the father’s bad faith: 6 years bad faith / 3 = 2 years equivalent good faith.
The son needs 8 more years of good faith possession (10 years total – 2 years equivalent) to complete the ordinary prescriptive period.
The son thus successfully tacks the possession but the calculation is adjusted, preventing the heir from being disadvantaged by the predecessor’s lack of good faith while still providing a legal path to ownership. This rule ensures that while bad faith is not inherited, the continuity of possession under the law is maintained.
