ACAIN VS IAC GRN 72706 OCTOBER 27, 1987 FACTS: Constantitno filed for probate of the will of his

decased brother Nemesio. The spouse and adopted child of the decedent opposed the probate of will because of preterition. RTC dismissed the petition of the wife. CA reversed and the probate thus was dismissed ISSUE: Whether or not there was preterition of compulsory heirs in the direct line thus their omission shall not annul the institution of heirs. RULING: Preterition consists in the omission of the forced heirs because they are not mentioned there in, or trough mentioned they are neither instituted as heirs nor are expressly disinherited. As for the widow there is no preterit ion because she is not in the direct line. However, the same cannot be said for the adopted child whose legal adoption has not been questioned by the petitioner. Adoption gives to the adopted person the same rights and duties as if he where a legitimate child of the adopter and makes the adopted person a legal heir hence, this is a clear case of preterition. The universal institution of petitioner together with his brothers and sisters to the entire inheritance of the testator results in totally abrogating the will because the nullification of such institution of universal heirs without any other testamentary disposition in the will amounts to a declaration that nothing was written. No legacies and devisees having been provided in the will, the whole property of the deceased has been left by universal title to petitioner and his brothers and sisters. FACTS:

Ruben AUSTRIA et al., petitioners, vs. Hon. Andres REYES, et al., respondents. G.R. No. L-23079, February 27, 1970

Basilia Austria filed with the CFI of Rizal a petition for probate ante mortem of her last will and testament which was opposed by Ruben Austria and others who are nephews and nieces of Basilia. However, such opposition was dismissed and the probate was allowed after due hearing. The bulk of the estate was destined under the will to pass on the Perfecto Cruz and others whom had been assumed and declared by Basilia as her own legally adopted children. Subsequently, upon Basilias death, Perfecto was appointed executor in accordance with the provisions of the formers will. Ruben and the other petitioners filed in the same proceedings a petition in intervention for partition alleging in substance that they are the nearest kin and that the five private respondents (Perfecto et al.) had not in fact been adopted by the testator in accordance with law, hence they should be rendered mere strangers and without any right to succeed as heirs. The court then allowed the said intervention by petitioners which the court delimited to the properties of the deceased which were not disposed of in the will and disregarded the matter of the genuineness of adoption. Upon denial of two motions for reconsiderations, the petitioners filed before the Supreme Court a petition for certiorari praying for the annulment of the lower courts orders restricting their intervention. ISSUE: Whether or not the institution of heirs would retain efficacy in the event there exists proof that the adoption of the same heirs by the decedent is false. RULING:
Article 850 provides: The statement of a false cause for the institution of an heir shall be considered as

not written, unless it appears from the will of the testator would not have made such institution if he had known the falsity of such cause.

Agapita N. CRUZ, petitioner vs. Hon. Judge Guillermo P. VILLASOR and Manuel LUGAY, respondents. G.R. No. L-32213, November 26, 1973
FACTS: Agapita Cruz is the surviving spouse of the deceased Valente Cruz. Agapita filed before the CFI an opposition for the allowance of the will of his late husband alleging that the will was executed through fraud, deceit, misrepresentation and undue influence because the said instrument was executed without the testator having been fully informed of the content thereof, particularly as to what properties he was disposing and that the supposed last will and testament was not executed in accordance with law. However, due to unfavorable decision, Agapita appealed by certiorari before the Supreme Court. ISSUE: Whether or not the supposed last will and testament was executed in accordance with law. RULING: Of the three instrumental witnesses, one of them is at the same time the Notary Public before whom the will was supposed to have been acknowledged. The Supreme Court is inclined to sustain the last will and testament in question was not executed in accordance with law. The notary public before whom the will was acknowledged cannot be considered as the third instrumental witness since he cannot acknowledge before himself his having signed the will. To acknowledge before means to avow. Consequently, if the third witness were the notary public himself, he would have to avow assent, or admit his having signed the will in front of himself. This cannot be done because he cannot split his personality into two.

Before the institution of heirs may be annulled under Art. 850, the following requisites must concur: 1. The cause for the institution heirs must be stated in the will; 2. The cause must be shown to be false; and 3. It must appear from the face of the will that the testator would not have made such institution if he had known the falsity of the cause. The article quoted above is a positive injunction to ignore whatever false cause the testator may have written in his will for the institution of heirs. Such institution may be annulled only when one is satisfied, after an examination of the will, that the testator clearly would not have made the institution of he had known the cause for it to be false. The words used in her will to describe the class of heirs instituted and the abstract object of the inheritance offer no absolute indication that the decedent would have willed her estate other than the way she did if she had known that she was not bound by law to make allowance for legitimes. Her disposition of the free portion of her estate which largely favored Cruz, et al. shows a perceptible inclination on her part to give to the respondents more than what she thought the law enjoined her to give to them. Testacy is favored and doubts are resolved on its side, especially where the will evinces an intention on the part of the testator to dispose of practically his whole estate. Moreover, so compelling is the principle that intestacy should be avoided and the wishes of the testator allowed to prevail, that we could even vary the language of the will for the purpose of giving it effect

To allow the notary public to act as third witness, or one of the attesting and acknowledging witnesses, would have the effect of having only two attesting witnesses to the will which would be in contravention of the provisions of Article 805 requiring at least three credible witnesses to act as such and of Article 806 which requires that the testator and the required number of witnesses must appear before the notary public to acknowledge the will. The result would be that only two witnesses appeared before the notary public for or that purpose. In the circumstance, the law would not be duly observed.

the dismissal of the complaint but the respondent judge set aside his order of dismissal and granted trial. Hence, this petition for certiorari. ISSUE: Whether or not the private respondents have a cause of action for the annulment of the will of Florention Hitosis and for the recovery of the parcels of land. RULING:

Pedro D. H. GALLANOSA, et al., petitioners, vs. Hon. Ubaldo Y. ARCANGEL, et al., respondents G.R. No. L-29300; June 21, 1978
FACTS: Florentino Hitosis, a childless widower executed a will wherein he beaqueathed his one-half share in the conjugal estate to his second wife, Tecia Dollentas, and should Tecia predecease him, as was the case, his one-half share would be assigned to the spouses Pedro Gallanosa and Corazon Grecia, the reason being that Pedro, Tecias son by her first marriage, grew up under the care of Florentino and had treated Perdo as his foster child. Florentiono likewise bequeathed his separate properties to his protg, Adolfo Fortajada, a minor. A petition for the probate of his will was filed in CFI which was opposed by his legal heir, his brother Leon Hitosis and his nephews and nieces. The court admitted the will to probate and appointed Gallanosa as executor. Subsequently, the testamentary heirs submitted a project of partition which was approved by the court, thus confirming the heirs possession of their respective shares. The testators legal heirs did not appeal from the decree of probate and from the order of partition and distribution. Leon instituted an action against Pedro for the recovery of the sixty-one parcels of land alleging that the former had been in continuous possession of said land however, the complaint was dismissed on the ground of res judicata. The legal heirs of the testator did not appeal from the order of dismissal instead, 28 years after the probate of the will, they filed an action for the annulment of the will of Florentino and for the recovery of the parcels of land. Pedro filed for

The lower court committed a grave abuse of discretion in reconsidering its order of dismissal and in ignoring the testamentary case. It is evident from the allegations of the complaint that the action is barred by res judicata. The decree of probate is conclusive as to the due execution or formal validity of the will. The decree of adjudication rendered by the trial court in the testate proceeding for the settlement of the estate of Florentino Hitosis having been rendered in a proceeding in rem, is binding upon the whole world. The private respondents did not even bother to ask for the annulment of the testamentary proceeding and the proceeding on partition. Obviously, they realized that the final adjudications in those cases have the binding force of res judicata and that there is no ground, nor it is timely, to ask for the nullification of the final orders and judgments in those two cases.

Testate Estate of Felicidad Esguerra Alto-Yap deceased Fausto E. GAN, petitioner-appellant, vs. Ildefonso YAP, oppositor-appellee. G.R. No. L-12190; August 30, 1858
FACTS: After the death of Felicidad Esguerra Alto-Yap, Fausto Gan filed a petition for the probate of a holographic will allegedly executed by the fomer. Opposing the petition, her surviving husband Ildefonso Yap asserted that the deceased had not left any will, nor executed any testament during her lifetime. The will itself was not presented.

Gan tried to establish its contents and due execution by the statements of allegedly four (4) witnesses to the execution of the alleged will. After hearing the parties and considering their evidence, the court refused to probate the alleged will. Due to the denial of motion for reconsideration, Gan appealed. ISSUE: Whether or not a holographic will may be probated upon the testimony of witnesses who have allegedly seen it and who declare that it was in the handwriting of the testator. RULING: The Rules of Court allow proof (and probate) of a lost or destroyed will by secondary evidence the testimony of witnesses in lieu of the original document. Yet such Rules could not have contemplated holographic wills which could not then be validly made here. The difference between holographic wills and ordinary will lies in the nature of the wills. In the first, the only guarantee of authenticity is the handwriting itself, in the second, the testimony of the subscribing or instrumental witnesses (and of the notary). The loss of the holographic will entails the loss of the only medium of proof, if the ordinary will is lost, the subscribing witnesses are available to authenticate. The evidence of presented by Gan is refused to be credited. In addition to the dubious circumstance described in the appealed decision, we find it hard to believe that the deceased should show her will precisely to relative who had received nothing from it. These could pester her into amending her will to give them a share, or threaten to reveal its execution to her husband. Further, if she wanted so much to conceal the will from her husband, why did she not entrust it to her beneficiaries? In fine, even if oral testimony were admissible to establish and probate a lost holographic will, we think the evidence submitted by petitioner is so tainted with improbabilities and inconsistencies that it fails to measure up to that :clear and distinct proof required by the Rules of Court

In the Matter of the Will of Antero Mercado, deceased, Rosario GARCIA, petitioner, vs. Juliana LACUESTA, et al., respondents. G.R. No. L-4067, November 29, 1951
FACTS: A will was executed by Antero Mercado wherein it appears that it was signed by Atty. Florentino Javiwe who wrote the name of Antero. The testator was alleged to have written a cross immediately after his name. The Court of First Instance found that the will was valid but the Court of Appeals reversed the lower courts decision holding that the attestation clause failed: 1) to certify that the will was signed on all the left margins of the three pages and at the end of the will by Atty. Javier at the express request of the testator in the presence of the testator and each and every one of the witnesses; 2) to certify that after the signing of the name of the testator by Atty. Javier at the formers request said testator has written a cross at the end of his name and on the left margin of the three pages of which the will consists and at the end thereof 3) to certify that the witnesses signed the will in all the pages thereon in the presence of the testator and of each other. Hence, this appeal. ISSUE: Whether or not the attestation clause is valid. RULING: The attestation clause is fatally defective for failing to state that Antero Mercado caused Atty. Javier to write the testators name under his express direction, as required by section 168 of the Code of Civil Procedure. It is not here pretended that the cross appearing on the will is the usual signature of Antero Mercado or even one of the ways by which he signed his name. After mature reflection, the SC is not prepared to liken the mere sign of the cross to a thumbmark and the reason is obvious. The cross cannot and does not have the trustworthiness of a thumbmark.

Remedios NUGUID, petitioner and appellant, vs. Felix NUGUID and Paz Salonga NUGUID, oppositors and appellees. G.R. No. L-23445, June 23, 1966 FACTS:
Rosario Nuguid, testator in the holographic will, died single and without descendants, legitimate or illegitimate. Surviving her were her legitimate parents, Felix Nuguid and Paz Salonga Nuguid, and six brothers and sisters, namely: Alfredo, Federico, Remedios, Conrado, Lourdes and Alberto, all surnamed Nuguid. On May 18, 1963, Remedios Nuguid, sister of Rosario, filed in the Court of First Instance of Rizal a holographic will allegedly executed by Rosario Nuguid on November 17, 1951, some 11 years before her death. The will stated as follows:

( Sgd .) Ille gibl e T / RO SA RIO NU GUI D Remedios prayed that said will be admitted to probate and that letters of administration with the will annexed be issued to her. This was opposed by the parents of Rosario, Felix and Paz. N o The parents opposed on the ground of preterition. The CFI v of Rizal decided in favor of the parents and declared that there was . indeed preterition of compulsory heirs. 1 Petitioner insists that the compulsory heirs were simply 7 ineffectively disinherited and that they are entitled to receive their , legitimes, but that the institution of heir "is not invalidated," although the inheritance of the heir so instituted is reduced to the extent of 1 said legitimes. 9 5 ISSUE: 1

I, ROSARIO NUGUID, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, having amassed a certain amount of property, do hereby give, devise, and bequeath all of the property which I may have when I die to my beloved sister Remedios Nuguid, age 34, residing with me at 38-B Iriga, Q.C. In witness whereof, I have signed my name this seventh day of November, nineteen hundred and fifty-one.

May a part of the will, when preterition has been declared, be considered to still be valid with respect to the free portion of the will? RULING: No, preterition has an effect of completely nullifying the will. Article 854 of the Civil Code states that (T)he preterition or omission of one, some, or all of the compulsory heirs in the direct line, whether

living at the time of the execution of the will or born after the death of the testator, shall annul the institution of heir; but the devises and legacies shall be valid insofar as they are not inofficious. The deceased Rosario Nuguid left no descendants, legitimate or illegitimate. But she left forced heirs in the direct ascending line her parents. The will completely omits both of them. They thus received nothing by the testament; tacitly, they were deprived of their legitime; neither were they expressly disinherited. This is a clear case of preterition. It cannot be gleaned in the will that any specific legacies or bequests are therein provided for. It is in this posture that the Supreme Court held that the nullity is complete. Perforce, Rosario Nuguid died intestate. Remedios claim that the will should only be nullified as to the part of the legitime and that she should thus be considered a devisee or legatee is without merit. The law requires that the institution of devisees and legatees must be expressly stated in the will. Such was not present. Also, the omission of the parents in the will cannot be interpreted as a form of disinheritance as the law also requires that, for disinheritance to be proper, the disinheritance should be clearly and expressly stated in the will. Absent that, no inference of disinheritance may be had.

Simeon was then appointed administrator of the estate and consequently, he delivered to the lower court a document purporting to be the holographic will of Bibiana which was then set for a hearing. Luz Henson, one of the compulsory heirs filed an opposition to probate assailing the purported holographic Will of Bibiana was not executed in accordance with law. However, the lower court issued an order allowing the probate which was found to have been duly executed in accordance with law. A motion for reconsideration was then filed by Luz assailing that the alleged holographic will was not dated as required by Article 810 of the Civil Code and contending that the law requires that the Will should contain the day, month and year of its execution and that this should be strictly complied with. The court then reconsidered its earlier order and disallowed the probate of the holographic will on the ground that the word dated has generally been held to include the month, day, and year. ISSUE: Whether or not the date (FEB/61) appearing on the holographic will of the deceased Bibian Roxas de Jesus is a valid compliance with the Article 810 of the Civil Code. RULING:
ART. 810. A person may execute a holographic will which must be entirely written, dated, and signed by the hand of the testator himself. It is subject to no other form, and may be made in or out of the Philippines, and need not be witnessed.

In the Matter of the Intestate Estate of Andres G. De Jesus and Bibiana Roxa de Jesus, Simeon R. ROXAS and Pedro ROXAS de Jesus, petitioners vs. Andres R. de JESUS, Jr. G.R. No. L-38338, January 28, 1985
FACTS: After the death of spouses Andres and Bibiana de Jesus, a special proceeding was instituted by Simeon, brother of Bibiana.

As a general rule, the date in a holographic will should include the day, month and year of its execution. However, when as in the case at bar, there is no appearance of fraud, bad faith, undue influence and pressure and the authenticity of the Will is established and the only issue is whether or not the date FEB/61 appearing on the holographic will is a valid compliance with Article 810 of the Civil Code, probate of the holographic Will should be allowed under the principle of substantial compliance.