Heirs seek to sell inherited land

Heirs seek to sell inherited land "We are planning to sell the land left by my deceased father. Can we transfer the titles of the land directly to the buyer’s name or do we need to settle it first among ourselves? Can we do it without going to court? JustineDear Justine, When a person dies, all his pieces of property which are not extinguished by his death will be transferred to his heirs through succession (Article 774, Civil Code of the Philippines). From the time of your father’s death, you and his other heirs will succeed to all the pieces of property that he left and will thus become owners thereof. As such, you have the right to enjoy and dispose of the things you owned without limitation other than those imposed by law (Article 428, id.). You may sell, mortgage, lease or assign the lands that you inherited from your father to other persons. However, it should be necessary for you to settle first the estate of your father before you may transfer its title to your prospective buyer.The estate of your father may be settled and distributed to you and his other heirs without going to court by means of an extra judicial settlement. Section 1, Rule 74 of the Rules of Court provides that if the decedent left no will and no debts and the heirs are all of age, or the minors are represented by their judicial or legal representatives duly authorized for the purpose, the parties may, without securing letters of administration, divide the estate among themselves as they see fit, by means of a public instrument filed in the Office of the Register of Deeds. You need to file a bond with the said register of deeds in an amount equivalent to the value of the personal property left by your father as certified to under oath by all of the heirs, and conditioned upon any just claim that may be filed against the property (Section 4, ibid.). The certificates of title of the parcels of land left by your father shall also contain an annotation regarding the two-year lien previously mentioned. This may be cancelled by the Register of Deeds after the lapse of two years without need of court order (Regalado, Remedial Law Compendium Book II (10th ed.), page 23, citing LRC Circular No. 143, dated January 28, 1964). You also need to cause the publication of the fact of the extra judicial settlement of your father’s estate for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in your province. You and other heirs may then divide among yourselves the pieces of property left by your father as you see fit provided that neither of you is deprived of your respective lawful shares in the inheritance. Once you have extra-judicially settled the estate of your father, you will be able to cause the transfer of its title to the name of your prospective buyers. Please be reminded that this opinion is solely based on your narration of facts and our appreciation of the same. The opinion may vary if other facts are added or elaborated.We hope that we were able to address your concern. Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to dearpao@manilatimes.net." - https://www.affordablecebu.com/