Property inheritance

Dear Atty. Angela,

We are four children and our sister died in an accident, she was single without any children. She left two properties which were eventually inherited by our parents. They both executed notarized Waiver of Rights over the properties in favor of me. Since my older brother is already established and earning well from his business and my other sister is based in the US and has no interest on the properties, they both executed waivers giving up their interest. After our parents died, my older brother wanted to nullify the transfer to me and cancel the titles claiming that the properties should remain in our parents’ estate and he was entitled to inherit from it. Is this correct?

Alexis

Dear Alexis,

No, your older brother can no longer contest and have the transfer of ownership to you nullified.

When your sister died, ownership of her properties immediately passed to your parents as her legal heirs. With this, your parents had the right to dispose of the properties however they wished. Even when they executed Waiver of Rights over the properties, these were effectively intended as donation to you.

In the case of Felix Cruz v Robin Cruz, G.R. No. 269039-41 (19 February 2026), the Supreme Court reiterated that under Article 749 of the Civil Code, a valid donation of real property requires: (1) a decrease in the donor’s property; (2) a corresponding increase in the donee’s property; (3) intent to donate; (4) execution of the donation in a public document; and (5) acceptance by the donee. If the acceptance is in a separate document, the donor must be informed.

These requirements were met in your case. All your siblings gave up their ownership of the properties in favor of you through notarized documents that expressly authorized the transfer.

Further, the Court in the case ruled that the donation of properties to an heir was valid if it had met the requirements as prescribed under the law. As a result, the properties no longer formed part of the parents’ estate when they died.

Also, it bears to note that since all your siblings at the time separately waived any interest they may have in the properties, where in fact your older brother prepared the waivers, he can no longer question their legal effect. As such, you have full legal rights to these properties donated to you.

Atty. Angela Antonio