The Philippines applies forced-heirship ("legitime") rules under its Civil Code, though an Indian citizen's own estate is, in principle, governed by Indian succession law under the Civil Code's nationality-based conflict-of-laws rule -- and the Philippines levies a flat 6% estate tax on Philippine-situs assets.
Legitime -- the Philippines' forced-heirship system
The Philippines has forced-heirship (“legitime”) rules under its Civil Code, a
civil-law-derived system. Compulsory heirs -- legitimate and illegitimate children and descendants, a
surviving spouse, and in their absence legitimate parents or ascendants -- are entitled to a reserved
portion of the estate that cannot be freely disposed of by will.
Which law governs an NRI's estate connected to the Philippines
Under the Civil Code's nationality-based conflict-of-laws rule (Article 16), succession to a foreign
national's estate is, in principle, governed by that person's own national law -- meaning Indian
succession law would generally govern an Indian citizen's estate, even for movable or immovable property
located in the Philippines. This platform could not independently verify current Philippine case law on
exactly how this applies in practice to NRI-owned Philippine assets such as condominium units, and
recommends consulting a Philippine conflict-of-laws specialist rather than relying on a general rule for a
specific estate.
The Philippines' flat 6% estate tax
The Philippines levies a flat 6% estate tax on the net estate value, under the 2018 TRAIN Law reform
that replaced the earlier graduated-rate system. This platform sourced this rate from consistent secondary
tax-practice commentary rather than the primary Bureau of Internal Revenue regulation text directly, and
recommends a final cross-check against BIR's own estate-tax page before relying on specific exemption
thresholds or standard-deduction amounts, since those details change. Separately, whatever the deceased
owned in India is governed by Indian succession law and procedure -- typically a Succession Certificate,
Letters of Administration, or Probate from the relevant Indian court.
Common mistakes NRIs and Indian-origin families connected to the Philippines make with succession matters:
- Assuming Philippine legitime rules automatically apply to an Indian citizen's entire estate,
without accounting for the Civil Code's nationality-based conflict-of-laws rule.
- Not budgeting for the Philippines' 6% estate tax on Philippine-situs assets such as a condominium
unit.
- Not separately handling the Indian-situs portion of an estate under Indian succession procedure.
