Father cannot make donations prejudicing legitime of a legitimate child

Dear PAO,

I have two siblings claiming that the three-fourths of the land left by my father was donated to them by the latter. My mother is the mistress of my father who is legally married to Jean. My siblings were born when Jean was still alive. Jean died in 1992. I was born in 1993, and my parents married two months thereafter. They acquired a certain land in the same year. My mom died in 1995. Allegedly, my father made the donations to my siblings in 1995. I can no longer verify the veracity of said donation because my father was already dead. May I know my rights with respect to the property.

LLennox

Dear Lennox,

It is important to emphasize that your two siblings were considered as illegitimate children because they were born out of spurious relationship between your father and your mother. This is in consonance with Article 165 of the Family Code of the Philippines which provides that "children conceived and born outside a valid marriage are illegitimate, unless otherwise provided in this Code." Your situation is different considering that you were born when the legal impediment between your parents to marry was already eliminated by the death of the legal wife of your father, Jean. Thus, the marriage of your parents after your birth would result to your legitimation. This is in consonance with the following provisions of the same law: