Phillip Chancellor III was the love child of Jill Foster and Phillip Chancellor II, as Phillip's father was married to Katherine at the time of conception. Though Jill and Phillip II were married on his deathbed, Katherine had the marriage legally invalidated, stopping any inheritance to Jill or her son-and use of the Chancellor name.

Between her job at Jabot and her efforts to secure a future for her son by always getting involved with yet another rich man, Jill had little time for "Little Phillip." Her mother Liz practically raised him herself. Once Jill had snagged and married John Abbott, and she could afford it, Phillip was shipped off to a Swiss boarding school.

In 1986 Phillip Foster returned from boarding school for the summer as a teenager with an inferiority complex and a drinking problem, apparently caused by his resentment of Jill for dumping him there. Rather than move into Jill's hotel suite, where she was living since her divorce from John Abbott, Phillip chose to stay with Jill's nemesis Kay Chancellor at the Chancellor estate. Kay persuaded Phillip to enroll at Genoa City University rather than return to boarding school in the fall. This enraged Jill so much, she fought for custody, which brought out all the ugly secrets surrounding Phillip's birth and Kay's revenge of taking away his Chancellor birthright. Because Phillip expressed that the security and attention he got from Kay he had never had with Jill, the judge granted Kay temporary custody. Phillip forgave Kay and no longer felt the need to drink. Kay arranged for his name to be legally changed to Phillip Chancellor III.

Phillip was befriended by Cricket Blair and Nina Webster, who were best friends. Phillip fell for Cricket, but didn't think he could compete with rock star Danny Romalotti. Nina campaigned heavily for Phillip, but lost when Danny decided Cricket was too young to be involved with only him. During Phillip and Cricket's romance, Phillip began drinking again for confidence. One evening, they had an accident while Phillip was driving drunk, but Cricket told the police she was driving to keep him from being arrested again. The negative publicity nearly cost Cricket her job as the Jabot Junior model. But Phillip, who had no recollection of the accident, turned himself in after Danny told him what actually happened. Cricket temporarily moved into the Chancellor estate to lend Phillip motional support in his struggle to quit drinking. One evening, while Cricket was enjoying an innocent visit with Danny, Nina got Phillip drunk and seduced him. Then Phillip and Danny both proposed marriage to Cricket. After Cricket decided to accept Phillip's proposal, Nina broke the news that she was pregnant with Phillip's baby, much to both Kay and Jill's horror.

Kay and Jill teamed up, allowing Nina to live in Kay's attic, while they schemed to keep Nina from ruining Phillip's life. Once Phillip IV was born, they tried to prove the baby was not his, offered her money to move away, and arranged for Chase Benson to romance her so they could charge her with neglect. All failed because tests proved the child was Phillip's, and Nina believed that he would eventually marry her. A critical illness of baby Phillip, and Nina's transformation by Cricket, Rex, and Danny from a street urchin to a mannered young lady made Phillip change his attitude toward Nina. But it was his mother Jill's nasty hostile attitude toward Nina that made Phillip become protective and eventually fall in love with and marry her.

Phillip quit college and went to work at Chancellor Industries. The demands of being a husband and father eventually turned him back to alcohol. In a shocking turn of events, on the way home from an office party, Phillip, driving drunk again, crashed his sports car and was killed. Jill held Nina responsible for Phillip's death and challenged her right to his inheritance. The judge ruled that Phillip's estate would be put into a trust for baby Phillip, to be administered by Nina. He also let Nina decide visitation terms for Jill with her grandson.

In 2007, shortly after getting a DNA test that confirmed Jill was indeed her daughter, Katherine began having disturbing nightmares of a baby crying. Through the help of psychic Silvia Brown, whose card reading turned into a séance with Jill's dead son Phillip, Kay began to remember a ring and a scene where she was handing over a baby. When it finally came back to her, she was forced to reveal to Jill that Kay had switched her son Phillip for another baby shortly after his birth, and had given a woman named Violet an expensive ring to secure the deal. Because of her heavy drinking and shame, Kay had blocked this out all these years. Jill was torn between being livid with Kay and relieved that her son Phillip was not dead after all. They hired JT to try to track down the real Phillip Chancellor III. And Amber Moore also did her own research consulting tarot cards and psychics, and the Internet. Amber found Cane, whose adopted mother was named Violet. He was searching for his mother and came to Genoa City from Australia on her lead. Amber and Cane got cozy, and after she discovered the possible link to the Chancellor millions, she took him to Vegas to get married, supposedly to keep him from being deported back to Australia. At the last minute, Cane decided against the marriage, so Amber drugged him and got her friend Ali to take his place in disguise, telling him he was too drunk to remember being married the next morning. A DNA test later proved him to be the real Phillip Chancellor, son of Jill. Phillips' body was exhumed and found not to be Jill's biological son. It is unknown who the body really was.

In 2009 another DNA test proved that Katherine and Jill were not a match, but Brock was confirmed as her son, so ultimately Jill was not Kay's daughter and Jill's true parents are unknown.

In June 2009, Nina returned to Genoa City to do a screenplay adaptation of Katherine's memoirs, and was skeptical of Cane's story and questioned him about it. Cane called "his uncle Langley" in Australia saying, "Phillip, your wife is going to find out you're still alive", but he told Cane not to worry, it would lead nowhere and blow over. Paul found out that Violet was in a hospital in Arizona at the time of the baby switch, so that part of Cane's story is a lie, but Jill and Kay refuse to believe that Cane not genuine. Nina was anxious to identify her son's father to find out if he had the gene to confirm or rule out his possible diagnosis of Huntington's disease. When she called the lab to get the remains from the prior exhumation re-examined, she was told they had no remains, nor any record of it at all in their files. So she had the body exhumed again, opened the coffin and found it empty. Further tests showed there had never been a body in that coffin, just the bags of sand to give it weight. Meanwhile Cane was frantically trying to get hold of "Langley. Jill reluctantly requested another DNA test, and Cane was seen pulling a vial of blood from a freezer of dry ice marked "Langley". The blood test was done at the Chancellor estate, but Cane distracted everyone while he substituted the blood vials. The results came in, and all but Nina were thrilled that Cane proved to be Jill's son. Then Paul delivered more news to Nina; tests showed the blood had been frozen, so Nina confronted Cane asking where he got the blood to pass the test. Cane admitted to Nina that he was a fraud in front of Kay, Jill, Murphy, Chloe, Neil and Lily, saying it was not for the money, he never wanted to hurt anyone, only meant to heal them, and they became family to him. When asked how Cane could do this to the people who gave him nothing but love, Jill's son Phillip emerged say that he did it, it was his doing. All were aghast to see Phillip again, still alive. Katherine had another mini-stroke and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Murphy, Jill and Nina were with her when Phillip arrived and assured everyone he was very much alive, explaining that at 19 he found himself overwhelmed with responsibilities as a young executive at Chancellor and a new father, an alcoholic in depression attempted suicide by crashing his sports car. When he awoke still alive in the hospital, he managed to pay off a doctor and a policeman to aid in faking his death, then escaped to Australia and began a new life as Langley. Five years ago he met Cane who came to work for Phillip as a bartender in Phillip's bar, and they became friends. Cane had grown up alone without a family and helped Phillip realize what he had must have put everyone through with his death. So they concocted the plan to give Jill and Kay a new son in Cane, making them all happy. He told Nina that he justified leaving her and their son because they would both be better off without him. Meanwhile back at the Chancellor Estate, Lily was crushed that Cane had lied to her for years, Neil told him to stay away from Lily, and Billy arrived in time to punch him out. Then Phillip dropped the bomb on Nina, telling her that another reason he was so desperate to die or to leave was that he was, and is, gay.

Cane came to the Chancellor Mansion to say goodbye and apologize to Kay and Jill. Phillip tried to get them to stop Cane from leaving, reminding them didn't they love him just a few days ago? But Cane slipped out while they were welcoming Nina's son Phillip I (who now is called Chance) who returned from Iraq unexpectedly finding his supposedly dead father as part of his welcome home. Chance's reaction was abnormally calm as he shook his father's hand, saying he was relieved, that dead people never came back where he'd just been. Phillip gave them all some relief by announcing the results of his blood test, that he was not a Huntington's carrier. Chance told Phillip he was not interested in his explanation, that Ryan was the only father he ever knew. Chloe and Chance began getting to know each other, and Chance admitted that he had been discharged from the Army, lonesome for his mother and grandmother, intended to stay, and was still a virgin. Katherine told Phillip that what he did to them was unforgivable. But after what Cane did to save Lily by getting her to return and have surgery, that he was a good man, she forgave Cane and asked him to stay in Genoa City.

Nina convinced Chance to meet with his father and get to know him. Phillip explained to him that he was gay and why he left, but Chance failed to see it as anything but irresponsible, though he appreciated his coming back to take the Huntington's test for him. Phillip offered to stay in town, and they shook hands. Phillip went home and commiserated with Jill about what lousy parents they both were, but he offered forgiveness, knowing she did the best she knew how. And in exchange Jill forgave him for faking his death. Nina admitted to Chance that despite it all, she still loved his father Phillip.

One day Chance happened to be in Crimson Lights when a guy tried to rob it by pulling a knife on Gloria. Chance interceded and was stabbed in the stomach. Nina and Phillip rushed to the hospital and met Jill and Chloe. As Chance went in to surgery with a ruptured spleen, Phillip was distraught with regret for leaving him as a baby, afraid that Chance would die without them reconciling. After his surgery, Chloe realized how much she really cared and told him she had signed the divorce papers from Billy, and that Chance was the man she wanted. Phillip had disappeared and everyone was concerned that he had run away again, but Paul was there for Nina, and tried to explain from his experience with Heather how out of place Phillip must be feeling. Phillip bought Chance a copy of Huckleberry Finn, the book Phillip used to read to him when Chance was a child. Chance read Phillip's heartfelt inscription, and he asked why it was not signed. Phillip had been unsure how to sign it, but Chance said that "Dad" was fine.

Cane shared his secret with Lily, that the "cattle mafia" in Australia had stolen his friend's herd one by one, bankrupting him. Cane became a marked man when he identified the rustlers to the authorities, which was why he had to leave Australia. Later Phillip got word that they were making trouble back home in Australia, so he returned to take care of it for Cane, and wind up things with his bar.

Back in Genoa City deportation loomed for Cane once Lily had licked her cancer. But Sofia saved the day by convincing Tucker to approve Cane as liaison with their corporate partner where Cane grew up in Canberra, Australia. Because Cane was uniquely qualified he obtained an eight month work visa. Phillip returned to Genoa City just in time for the Christening of Cane and Lily's twins, and he warned Cane that he was still in danger there, and he dared not go back.

While Phillip was in Australia, his son Chance became engaged to Chloe and had become involved in the investigation of a drug ring with Assistant D.A. Heather Stevens they suspected was being operated by "dirty cops", including his new partner, Ronan Malloy. Unknown to Chance, Phillip's former love, Christine Blair, and Ronan were working for the Treasury Department. Chance had just been told that Ronan was his mother Nina's stolen baby, making them half-brothers. Chance confronted Ronan, and off-screen made plans to trap D.A. Owen Pomerantz and Detective Sid Meeks who were the ring leaders. Just in case things did not go as planned, Chance made sure to spend quality time with his loved ones. He and Phillip bonded while assembling a tricycle for Chloe's daughter Delia.

Ronan, armed with the untraceable gun Meeks and Pomerantz had given him, met them with their suitcases of drugs at a warehouse. They checked Ronan for a wire and warned him that if he didn't kill Chance, they would kill both Chance and Ronan. Chance arrived at the warehouse and drew his gun on Meeks, Pomerantz and another dirty cop, telling him they were headed to Internal Affairs.

Back at the Chancellor mansion, Nina, Chloe and Heather were gathered with Paul to trace Chance's location by his cell phone's GPS. Nina expressed her distrust of Ronan, so Paul decided it was time to tell her the truth - that Ronan was an FBI agent working undercover in Genoa City, and that Ronan would be there to protect Chance. Heather added that they had not told Nina before because they'd been sworn to secrecy. Chloe then exposed to everyone that Ronan was Chance's brother, and Nina's stolen son. Nina was stunned as Paul received word of Chance's location, and they all left to find him.

At the warehouse, Ronan appeared behind Chance, his gun pointed at his brother, and Paul and Nina burst in just as Ronan shot Chance in the chest. Medics arrived and pronounced Chance dead. Heather and Chloe sobbed while a grief-stricken Nina attacked Ronan for killing his own brother. Meeks and Pomerantz directed the police to arrest Ronan for Chance's murder. As Chance was being wheeled out, Nina realized that he had been saying goodbye to everyone all that day. Back at the mansion, Nina ran upstairs in tears and Paul was left to break the news to Phillip; his grandmother, Jill; Kay; and Murphy. Phillip comforted Nina as she realized that Chris must have known that Ronan was her son all along. When a stunned Chris arrived at Nina's door, Nina slammed the door in her face. Chris tried to justify her actions to Paul, but he rebuffed her as well. Later a uniformed Army officer arrived at the door to help the family make arrangements. He showed Nina his prosthetic leg, and credited Chance with saving his life in Afghanistan.

At the police station, Heather confronted Ronan who claimed he had shot Chance in self-defense. Then Heather demanded that Pomerantz rehire her so she could prosecute Ronan since it was due to Ronan's claims that she had been fired.

A wake was held at the Chancellor mansion the night prior to Chance's military funeral, with his ashes later interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Jill told Nina that Nina was a better mother to Chance than Jill had been to either of her sons, and there was no way that Chance could have been a drug ring leader as the D.A. claimed. Katherine, Jill, and Nina received newlyweds Billy and Victoria, plus Victor and Nikki, Tucker, Jack, and Abby at the Chancellor Estate.

Kevin did his best to get Chloe out of her depression, and he accompanied her to the wake. Nina admitted to Chloe that she was glad that Chloe had allowed Chance to experience love and a relationship as a father figure to her daughter. After Chloe blew up at her mother, Esther, Kevin took her home and attempted to get her to grieve. Everyone told stories about Chance including Nina about how he had always wanted a puppy from Santa, and that once she finally sold a script and they moved to a bigger place, she had gotten him one. After Jill gave a final thank you to the guests and a toast to the wonderful young man Chance was, Kay was overcome and nearly fainted.

Brock returned to Genoa City to officiate at Chance's funeral and Traci Abbott sent flowers and a note. Chloe made a scene when Heather arrived, but Kay put a stop to it. Chance's parents, Nina and Phillip followed the flag-draped closed casket carried down the aisle by an honor guard, and were followed by grandmother Jill with Billy and Cane on each arm, then Katherine and Murphy. Phillip gave a very touching eulogy about how even though he had abandoned Chance when he was a baby, Chance forgave him as an adult. Jill said that Chance had gotten the best of all of those who were around him growing up, from Phillip's warmth and good looks, Nina's devotion and strength, Brock's generosity and forthrightness, Katherine's zest for life, and Esther's loyalty, to her own determination and stubbornness, creating a whole that was better than the sum of his parts. Katherine said a few words about how Chance had enriched all their lives. The folded flag was presented to Nina while a rifle salute and Taps played. Then all who loved him placed a red rose on the casket.

Suddenly Nina cried out, "How dare you!" as Christine arrived with Ronan. Ronan showed his FBI credentials and arrested Pomerantz, Meeks, and their cohorts, explaining that Chance was the one wearing the wire, and the FBI arrived and took them away. The funeral turned into a screaming match with Nina calling Chris and Ronan disrespectful and tried to send them away.

Meanwhile back at the Chancellor Estate, the stress got to Kay, she fainted, and was taken to the hospital, but after a few tests she was declared okay, and they let her return home. After the Attorney General heard Pomerantz on tape giving Ronan orders to "End this, kill him now," he began an investigation of cases in which Pomerantz was involved and made Heather Interim District Attorney until the next election. Paul congratulated her, she asked him to be her Investigator, and he accepted. Later Victor Newman found out and offered to bankroll her campaign if she would go after Adam and see that he paid for his crimes.

Christine arranged for Phillip and Nina to be taken by an FBI man to an out of the way location where they met her and Ronan. Then Chance emerged from the shadows, very much alive. Nina and Phillip hugged him while Chris and Chance disclosed that it was all a setup, and that Chance would be going into the witness protection program, very possibly to never be seen or heard of again. But this was the only way to protect him and keep him alive, and Nina and Phillip had to keep the secret, and no one else could ever know the truth. Nina and Ronan exchanged some heartfelt words as he told her that he had found out she was his mother back when the FBI background check disclosed his illegal adoption as a black market baby, and read her book and knew of the ordeal Nina went through ever since. Sadly, Ronan told Nina that he had to leave with Chance and would be going back undercover, and unable to see her, but he did promise to keep in touch by phone. Phillip told Chance he was very proud of his son, and hugged him goodbye. Chance and Nina parted, agreeing to keep in touch the way they had when he was deployed, to look at the moon at 9:00 PM each night, and know that the other was safe and missing them. Ronan and Chance drove away, and Nina, Phillip, and Christine returned to the Chancellor mansion, and did not say a word about what had happened. But later, thinking that Katherine's health was endangered because of it, Christine told Katherine the truth.

Phillip returned to Australia to help save Cane from the cattle rustlers who were out to get revenge on him for turning on them to save himself.

In February, 2011, Phillip returned to attend Cane's funeral after he had been murdered by the Cattle Mafia. Philip gave a eulogy about Cane and how he had sent him to Genoa City to find a family, and thanked everyone for loving him as a son, friend, and husband. Phillip was also there to see his son Chance. Chance had come out of witness protection to save his half-brother Ronan's life by donating half his liver, and then was to testify at the trial for which he had entered witness protection.

Waiting for the trial, Chance recovered from surgery, sequestered in his room at the Chancellor Estate. Heather visited Chance and told him that she hated him for lying to her and faking his death, then fell into his arms and they made love. Nina and Phillip threw Chance a birthday party, where he disappointed everyone when he admitted that he was probably going back into witness protection after his testimony.

The trial began and Chance was announced as the first witness. As Chance approached the stand in his dress blues, he got a text message telling him that his girlfriend would be killed if he testified. Chance faked a severe pain to get a recess to discuss the situation with prosecutor Christine, Paul, and his parents. Paul noticed the call had come from his daughter Heather's phone, and Christine got the FBI to try to track it.

Meanwhile Heather was tied up and blindfolded at the boarded-up Treetop Taxidermy Shop, taken and held there by Angelo, the same thug who was threatening Jeffrey over money owed a bookie. Back outside the courtroom, Paul told that he knew what he had to do, and Chance bravely continued his testimony against Pomerantz and Meeks while they glared at him. Chance testified how he had investigated the drug ring, how it had led to the defendants, how he was setup for drug possession, and how people had started getting killed once they knew he was onto them. Chance then told how he and Ronan had set up the sting in which he had faked his death. The recording from that night was played including Pomerantz's orders, the gunshot, and Chance's supposed death. After his testimony, Chance confronted Pomerantz telling him that he would not get away with it, and Owen said that Chance had just killed his girlfriend. The bailiff called Angelo, and Angelo told Heather that she would be killed, but that he was leaving, and someone else would do the job.

Back at the courthouse, the FBI man announced that the van in the surveillance video of Heather's abduction was last seen traveling west on route 12. Chance admitted that he was in love with Heather as he and Paul left vowing to find Heather alive, leaving Phillip and Nina to console each other.

Heather found a knife and was able to cut herself loose, but was unable to get out of the building. In her desperation to get out before her killer arrived, she started the place on fire. Chance and Paul saw the fire from the highway and got her outside where she came-to. As they waited for the ambulance to arrive, Chance told Heather that he loved her, and that she was the one. Later Pomerantz and Meeks cut a deal, and were sentenced to Walworth Prison.

Chance laid low living at the Chancellor estate, and discussed going back into the witness protection program with Heather. Heather decided that she did not love Chance enough to give up her life to follow him, so they broke up. Chance then informed his family that he had re-enlisted in the Army. Although broken-hearted and fearful that he was leaving them again by putting his life on the line while deployed to the Middle East, Nina, Phillip, Jill, and Katherine threw a going away Memorial Day pool party, raised a flag, and proudly sent him on his way.

In August 2011, Nina returned from Los Angeles announcing that Chance was missing, as she had not heard from him, and had been getting regular emails, and that she had alerted Phillip in Australia. That same day, Paul was shocked when Ronan showed up as an investigator at the crime scene where Diane Jenkins had been murdered. Paul asked for an explanation of why Ronan had disappeared and where he had been, but Ronan said he had been rehired by the Genoa City Police, and that was all he needed to know.

In May 2012, Jill left Genoa City for Sydney, Australia, to help Phillip following his knee replacement surgery, bringing him some of his favorite Wisconsin root beer.

In September 2013, Katherine Chancellor died in her sleep during a trip around the world. Days later when Katherine's will was read, Mackenzie, Phillip, Chance, Brock and Nina were bequeathed one quarter of her estate to be shared equally.

In June 2018, Philip and Chance were said to be on a trek through the Himalayans, which would last for over a month.