Principles Affecting Freely Disposable Portion

A. Institution of Heirs Arts. 840-856, in relation

to Arts. 785-789
Austria v. Reyes
Civil law Succession Testamentary succession Institution
of
heir Requisites for annulment of institution of heir for
statement of a false cause.Before the institution of heirs may
be annulled under Article 850 of the Civil Code, the following
requisites must concur: First, the cause for the institution of
heirs must be stated in the will second, the cause must be
shown to be false and third, 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.
Same Same Same Same Same Where will does not state
cause for institution of heir.Where the decedents will does
not state in a specific or unequivocal manner the cause for
such institution of heirs, the will cannot be annulled under
Article 850 of the Civil Code. Such institution may be annulled
only when it is clear, after an examination of the will that the
testator clearly would not have made the institution if he had
known the cause for it to be false.
Same Same Same Interpretation of will Testacy favored.
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, as was done
in this case. 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.
B. Kinds of Institution Arts. 777, 871-885, 1034
(par. 3), 1183

Vda. De Kilayko v. Tengco

Civil Law Succession Partition In testate succession, there
can be no valid partition among the heirs until after the will
has been probated. In testate succession, there can be no
valid partition among the heirs until after the will has been
probated. The law enjoins the probate of a will and the public
requires it, because unless a will is probated and notice thereof
given to the whole world, the right of a person to dispose of his
property by will may be rendered nugatory. The authentication
of a will decides no other question than such as touch upon the
capacity of the testator and the compliance with those
requirements or solemnities which the law prescribes for the
validity of a will.
Same Same Same The probate court has the jurisdiction to
settle the claims of an heir and the consequent adjudication of
the properties. Some decisions of the Court pertinent to the
issue that the probate court has the jurisdiction to settle the
claims of an heir and the consequent adjudication of the
properties, are worth mentioning. In the cases of Arroyo v.
Gerona, and Benedicto v. Javellana, this Court said: x x x any
challenge to the validityof a will, any objection to the
authentication thereof, and every demand or claim which any
heir, legatee or party interested in a testate or intestate
succession may make, must be acted upon and decided within
the same special proceedings not in a separate action, and the
same judge having jurisdiction in the administration of the
estate shall take cognizance of the question raised, inasmuch
as when the day comes he will be called upon to make
distribution and adjudication of the property to the interested
parties x x x. (Italics supplied)
Same Same Same The probate court in the exercise of its
jurisdiction to distribute the estate has the power to
determine the proportion or parts to which each distributee is

entitled.The probate court, in the exercise of its jurisdiction

to distribute the estate, has the power to determine the
proportion or parts to which each distributee is entitled x x x.
A project of partition is merely a proposal for the distribution
of the hereditary estate which the court may accept or reject. It
is the court that makes that distribution of the estate and
determines the persons entitled thereto.
Same Same Same Where the court has validly issued a
decree of distribution and the same has become final, the
validity or invalidity of the project of partition becomes
irrelevant.A final decree of distribution of the estate of a
deceased person vests the title to the land of the estate in the
distributees. If the decree is erroneous, it should be corrected
by opportune appeal, for once it becomes final, its binding
effect is like any other judgment in rem, unless properly set
aside for lack of jurisdiction or fraud. Where the court has
validly issued a decree of distribution and the same has
become final, the validity or invalidity of the project of
partition becomes irrelevant.
Same Same Same The only instance where a party
interested in a probate proceeding may have a final
liquidation set aside is when he is left out by reason of
circumstances beyond hiscontrol or through mistake or
inadvertence not imputable to negligence. It is a
fundamental concept in the origin of every jural system, a
principle of public policy, that at the risk of occasional errors,
judgments of courts should become final at some definite time
fixed by law, interest rei publicae ut finis sit litum. The very
object of which the courts were constituted was to put an end
to controversies. The only instance where a party
interested in a probate proceeding may have a final liquidation
set aside is when he is left out by reason of circumstances
beyond his control or through mistake or inadvertence not
imputable to negligence.

Remedial Law Res judicata The fundamental principle

upon which the doctrine of res judicata rests is that parties
ought not to be permitted to litigate the same issue more than
once.The fundamental principle upon which the doctrine of
res judicata rests is that parties ought not to be permitted to
litigate the same issue more than once, that, when a right or
fact has been judicially tried and determined by a court of
competent jurisdiction, or an opportunity for such trial has
been given, the judgment of the court, so long as it remains
unreversed, should be conclusive upon the parties and those in
privity with them in law or estate.
Same Lis pendens A notice of lis pendens may be cancelled
after proper showing that the notice is for the purpose of
molesting the adverse party or that it is not necessary to
protect the rights of the party who caused it to be recorded.
The cancellation of such a precautionary notice, being a mere
incident in an action, may be ordered by the court having
jurisdiction over it at any given time. Under Sec. 24, Rule 14 of
the Rules of Court, a notice of lis pendens may be cancelled
after proper showing that the notice is for the purpose of
molesting the adverse party, or that it is not necessary to
protect the rights of the party who caused it to be recorded. In
this case, the lower court ordered the cancellation of said
notice on the principal reason that the administrators of the
properties involved are subject to the supervision of the court
and the said properties are under custodia legis.
C. Substitution of Heirs Art. 857-870
Palacios v. Ramirez
Same A vulgar substitution of heirs is valid even if the heir
designated survives the testator inasmuch us vulgar
substitution can take place also by refusal or incapacity to
inherit of the first heir. They allege that the substitution in
its vulgar aspect is void because Wanda survived the testator

or stated differently because she did not predecease the

testator. But dying before the testator is not the only case for
vulgar substitution for it also includes refusal or incapacity to
accept the inheritance as provided in Art. 859 of the Civil
Code, supra. Hence, the vulgar substitution is valid.
Same A fideicommissary substitution is void if first heir is
not related in the 1st degree to the second heir. As regards
the substitution in its fideicommissary aspect, the appellants
are correct in their claim that it is void for the following
reasons: The substitutes (Juan Pablo Jankowski and Horace V.
Ramirez) are not related to Wanda, the heir originally
instituted. Art 863 of the Civil Code validates a fidei
commissary substitution provided such substitution does not
go beyond one degree from the heir originally instituted.
Crisologo v. Singson
Wills and testaments Designation of heirs Purpose of fidei
commissary substitution.It is of the essence of a fidei
commissary substitution that an obligation be clearly imposed
upon the first heir to preserve and transmit to another the
whole or part of the estate bequeathed to him, upon his death
or upon the happening of a particular event.
D. Legacies and Devises
Fernandez v. Dimagiba
The last issue, that of revocation, is predicated on paragraph 2
of Article 957 of the Civil Code of 1950 (Art. 869 of the Code of

1889), which recites: ART. 957. The legacy or devise shall be

without effect:
(1) xxxx
(2) If the testator by any title or for any cause alienates the
thing bequeathed or any part thereof, it being understood that
in the latter case the legacy or devise shall be without effect
only with respect to the part thus alienated. If after the
alienation the thing should again belong to the testator, even if
it be by reason of nullity of the contract, the legacy or devise
shall not thereafter be valid, unless the reacquisition shall have
been effected by virtue of the exercise of the right of
repurchase
XXX X.
Belen v. BPI
WILLS AND TESTAMENT CODICIL INTERPRETATION
AND CONSTRUCTION PHRASE "SUS DESCENDIENTES"
INCLUDES CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.The word
"descendants" (descendientes) when used in a will or deed to
designate a class to take property in substitution of named
legatees, includes not only children but also grandchildren. In
other words, in the absence of other indications of contrary
intent,
the proper rule to apply is that the testator, by designating a
class or group of legatees, intended all members thereof to
succeed per capita, in consonance with article 846, New Civil
Code. So that the original legacy to F.D. in question should be
equally divided among her surviving children and
grandchildren.