Illegitimate children claim share in grandfather’s property

Illegitimate children claim share in grandfather’s property "‘In 2006, my siblings and I discovered that the siblings of my father did not include him in the partition of my grandfather’s property. As illegitimate children of our father, we immediately filed an adverse claim when we learned about it. Do we have a right to claim the share of our father in the estate of our grandfather by right of representation since our father is already dead?Mary of Batangas Dear Mary of Batangas,You and your siblings, as illegitimate children, are considered compulsory heirs of your father according to Article 886 of the Civil Code, which states that “the following are compulsory heirs: [1] Legitimate children and descendants, with respect to their legitimate parents and ascendants [2] In default of the foregoing, legitimate children and descendants [3] The widow or widower [4] Illegitimate children.” Your father is also a compulsory heir of your grandfather in accordance with the abovementioned provision since he is a child of the latter.If your father is a legitimate child of your grandfather, you and your siblings cannot inherit from your grandfather by right of representation because of the barrier between legitimate and illegitimate families under Article 992 of the Civil Code, which states that “an illegitimate child has no right to inherit ab intestato from the legitimate children and relatives if his father or mother nor shall such children or relatives inherit in the same manner from the illegitimate child.” The reason for this barrier is because between the legitimate family and the illegitimate family there is presumed to be an intervening antagonism and incompatibility. The illegitimate child is disgracefully looked down upon by the legitimate family the family is in turn, hated by the illegitimate child the latter considers the privileged condition of the former, and the resources of which it is thereby deprived the former, in turn, sees in the illegitimate child nothing but the product of sin, palpable evidence of a blemish broken in life the law does no more than recognize this truth, by avoiding further grounds of resentment (Diaz v. IAC, G.R. No. L-66574 June 17, 1987). Based from the foregoing, you and your siblings cannot inherit from your grandfather by right of representation if your father is a legitimate child of the former. However, if your father is also an illegitimate child of your grandfather, you and your siblings can inherit from your grandfather by right of representation. Here, the barrier between illegitimate and legitimate families under Article 992 of the Civil Code is no longer applicable since the person whom you and your siblings are representing (father) is also an illegitimate child.Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to “mailto: dearpao@manilatimes.net” dearpao@manilatimes.net or via text message (key in: Times dearpao and send to 2299)." - https://www.affordablecebu.com/