Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
FACTS: 5.
Guy vs. Court of Appeals
Roberta Diaz y Cruz is an old woman, 83 years of age, residing in GR No. 163707
Pasay City possessing real and personal properties roughly September 15, 2006
estimated at half a million pesos.
Facts:
On August 18, 1956, three of her nine legitimate children, and two The private respondents-minors Karen and Kamille Wei represented
of her grandchildren by another daughter, joined in a Petition by their mother filed a petition for letters of administration before
addressed to the Rizal Court of First Instance, to declare her the RTC of Makati., they alleged that they are the duly
incompetent to take care of herself and manage her properties and acknowledged illegitimate children of Sima Wei who died intestate.
to appoint a guardian of her person and her properties. The
allegations, too long to relate, set out a prima facie case of The heirs of the deceased are his wife Shirley Guy and 5 children all
incompetency1 (Special Proceeding 1483-P). surnamed Guy.
RTC denied the motion to dismiss on the ground that it had not been
RULING: NO.
established that Remedios was the duly constituted guardian of her
minor daughters when she signed the Release and Waiver of Claim.
As to the certiorari, petitioner may not seriously urge lack
of jurisdiction. In asking the Court to annul the lis pendens CA denied petitioner’s motion for reconsideration.
she admitted its jurisdiction to annul — and also to refuse
annulment. Was there abuse of discretion? The lis Issues:
pendens had been obviously annotated for the purpose of 1. WON the Release and Waiver of Claim precludes private
advising any one who might wish to buy the realty, that respondents from claiming their successional rights. NO
there is in court a petition to declare Roberta Diaz 2. WON private respondents are barred by prescription from
incompetent to dispose of her properties. proving their filiation. NO
Held:
Page | 3
1. SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE OF DECEASED PERSONS:
To be valid and effective, a waiver must be couched in clear and
unequivocal terms which leave no doubt as to the intention of a 6.
party to give up a right or benefit which legally pertains to him. The G.R. No. L-770 April 27, 1948
document does not state with clarity the purpose of its execution, it ANGEL T. LIMJOCO, vs. INTESTATE ESTATE OF PEDRO O.
merely states that Remedios received P300k and an educational FRAGRANTE
plan for her minor daughters by way of financial assistance and in
full settlement of any and all claims of whatsoever nature and kind
against the estate of the deceased. FACTS:
Moreover, Article 1044 of Civil Code provides that: Pedro Fragante, a Filipino citizen at the time of his death, applied for
”Any inheritance left to minors or incapacitated persons may be a certificate of public convenience to install and maintain an ice
accepted by their parents or guardians. Parents or guardians may plant in San Juan Rizal. His intestate estate is financially capable of
repudiate the inheritance left to their wards only by judicial maintaining the proposed service. The Public Service Commission
authorization.” issued a certificate of public convenience to Intestate Estate of the
deceased, authorizing said Intestate Estate through its special or
Thus, there was no waiver of hereditary rights. The minors could not Judicial Administrator, appointed by the proper court of competent
have possibly waived their successional rights because they are yet jurisdiction, to maintain and operate the said plant. Petitioner claims
to prove their status as acknowledged illegitimate children of the that the granting of certificate applied to the estate is a
deceased. contravention of law.
Page | 4
or juridical, no less than natural, persons in these constitutional wrong-doing must be clearly and convincingly established. It cannot
immunities and in other of similar nature. Among these artificial or be presumed.
juridical persons figure estates of deceased persons.
DEBTS
Hence, the Court held that within the framework of the
Constitution, the estate of Fragante should be considered an 8.
artificial or juridical person for the purposes of the settlement and EMILIA FIGURACION-GERILLA, Petitioner,
distribution of his estate which include the exercise during the -versus-
judicial administration thereof of those rights and the fulfillment of CAROLINA VDA. DE FIGURACION, et.al., Respondents
those obligations of his which survived after his death.
G.R. No. 154322;
3. YES. August 22, 2006
Rita Nagac instituted a Special Proceeding case for the issuance of The claims of both parties as to the properties left by the deceased
letters of administration in her favor pertaining to the estate of may be properly ventilated in simple partition proceedings where
Andres Pereira. Victoria filed an opposition alleging that here exist the creditors should there be any, are protected in any event.
no estate of the deceased for purposes of administration for the
reason that the death benefits from PAL, PALEA, PESALA and SSS
belong exclusively to her, being the sole beneficiary and that the PARTITION (RULE 69)
saving deposits of her deceased husband had been used to defray
the funeral expenses and the only real property of the deceased has 10.
been extrajudicially settled by her and the private respondent as the HEIRS OF JOAQUIN TEVES vs. COURT OF APPEALS, HEIRS OF
only surviving hairs; that if an estate does exist, the letters of ASUNCION IT-IT
administration relating to the said estate be issued in her favor as G.R. No. 109963 October 13, 1999
the surviving spouse.
Held: However, Joaquin’s sisters died without issue, causing the entire
1. property to pass to him. After Marcelina and Joaquin died, their
The function of resolving whether or not a certain property should children executed extrajudicial settlements purporting to adjudicate
be included in the inventory of list of properties to be administered
unto themselves the ownership over the two parcels of land and to
by the administrator is one clearly within the competence of the
probate court. However, the court’s determination is only alienate their shares thereto in favor of their sister Asuncion Teves
provisional in character, not conclusive, and is subject to the final for a consideration. The validity of these settlements executed
decision in a separate action which may be instituted by the parties. pursuant to section 1 of Rule 74 of the Rules of Court is the primary
issue in the present case. The division of the subject lot was
2. embodied in two deeds. The first Deed of Extrajudicial Settlement
The administration proceeding instituted by Rita is unnecessary. and Sale was entered into on June 13, 1956 while the second deed
was executed on April 21, 1959.
Page | 6
The Deed of Extrajudicial Settlement and sale was executed on sisters, and that there are witnesses ready to prove such partition.
December 14, 1971. After the death of Asuncion Teves, her children, However, Cresencia asserted that under the Rules of
private respondents, extrajudicially settled her property, Court, parol evidence of partition is inadmissible.
adjudicating unto themselves said lots.
Issue: Whether or not oral evidence is admissible in proving a
contract of partition among heirs?
On May 9, 1984, herein petitioners, heirs of Marcelina and Joaquin, Ruling: As a general proposition, transactions, so far as they affect
filed a complaint with the Regional Trial Court of Negros Occidental the parties, are required to be reduced to writing either as a
against private respondents for the partition and reconveyance of condition of jural validity or as a means of providing evidence to
the aforesaid parcels of land, alleging that the extrajudicial prove the transactions.
settlements were spurious.
Written form exacted by the statute of
ISSUE: Should the extrajudicial settlements be upheld? frauds, for example, “is for evidential purposes only.” The Civil Code,
too, requires the accomplishment of acts or contracts in a public
YES. An extrajudicial settlement is a contract and it is a well- instrument, not in order to validate the act or contract but only
entrenched doctrine that the law does not relieve a party from the to insure its efficacy so that after the existence of the acts or
effects of a contract, entered into with all the required formalities contracts has been admitted, the party bound may be compelled to
and with full awareness of what he was doing, simply because the execute the document.
contract turned out to be a foolish or unwise investment. Therefore,
although plaintiffs-appellants may regret having alienated their It must be noted that where the law intends writing or
hereditary shares in favor of their sister Asuncion, they must now other formality to be the essential requisite to the validity of the
be considered bound by their own contractual acts. The subject transactions it says so in clear and
extrajudicial settlements were never registered. unequivocal terms. Section 1 of Rule 74 of the Rules of Court
contains no such express or clear declaration that the required
However, in the case of Vda. de Reyes vs. CA, the Court, interpreting public instruments is to be constitutive of a contract of partition or
Section 1 of Rule 74 of the Rules of Court, upheld the validity of an an inherent element of its effectiveness as between the parties.
oral partition of the decedent’s estate and declared that the non-
registration of an extrajudicial settlement does not affect its intrinsic The requirement that a partition be put in a public
validity. It was held in this case that the requirement that a partition document and registered has for its purpose the protection of
be put in a public document and registered has for its purpose the creditors and at the same time the protection of the heirs
protection of creditors and at the same time the protection of the themselves against tardy claims. The object of registration is to
heirs themselves against tardy claims. serve as constructive
notice.
The object of registration is to serve as constructive notice to others.
Thus, despite its non-registration, the extrajudicial settlements are It must follow that the intrinsic validity of partition not
legally effective and binding among the heirs of Marcelina executed with the prescribed formalities does not come into play
Cimafranca since their mother had no creditors at the time of her when, as in this case, there are no creditors or the rights of creditors
death. are not affected. No rights of creditors being involved, it is
competent for the heirs of an estate to enter into an agreement for
distribution in a
manner and upon a plan different from those provided by law.
Judgment reversed.
REGISTRATION
Hernandez v. Andal
Page | 7