- Statute
- Philippine Civil Code
- Article
- Art. 867
- Topic
- Testamentary Succession
- Status
- In force
- Book
- BOOK III DIFFERENT MODES OF ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP Preliminary Provision
- Title
- TITLE IV SUCCESSION
- Chapter
- CHAPTER 2 Testamentary Succession
- Formerly
- Art. 785a of the old Civil Code
- Year
- 1949
- Cited by
- A Supreme Court decision
The provision
The following shall not take effect: (1) Fideicommissary substitutions which are not made in an express manner, either by giving them this name, or imposing upon the fiduciary the absolute obligation to deliver the property to a second heir; (2) Provisions which contain a perpetual prohibition to alienate, and even a temporary one, beyond the limit fixed in article 863; (3) Those which impose upon the heir the charge of paying to various persons successively, beyond the limit prescribed in article 863, a certain income or pension; (4) Those which leave to a person the whole or part of the hereditary property in order that he may apply or invest the same according to secret instructions communicated to him by the testator. (785a)
Intellegal Wiki · In plain terms
This article voids four kinds of testamentary provision. A fideicommissary substitution takes effect only if imposed expressly — by giving it that name, or by placing on the fiduciary the absolute obligation to deliver the property to a second heir; one merely implied does not. A perpetual prohibition to alienate is void, as is a temporary one running beyond the limit fixed in Article 863, and so is a charge on the heir to pay successive persons an income or pension past that same limit. The fourth is the secret trust: a disposition leaving a person the whole or part of the estate so that he may apply or invest it according to secret instructions given him by the testator. What the four have in common is that they put the disposition beyond what the will itself discloses or beyond the period the Code allows.
An editorially maintained plain-language explanation of this provision — not legal advice.