G.R. No. L-2150; July 20, 1950
SERAFIA BAS, BASILISA BAS DE GIANAN, and RITA BAS DE MANLAGNIT, plaintiffs-appellants, vs. PAULINA DE LOS REYES VDA. DE BAS, defendant-appellee.

FACTS

Vicente Bas died, leaving a parcel of land. His legitimate children from his first marriage (plaintiffs-appellants) claimed the land as inheritance. His second wife, Paulina de los Reyes (defendant-appellee), claimed the land as a gift propter nuptias (in consideration of marriage) based on a handwritten note on the back of the deed of sale for the land, signed by Vicente Bas on their wedding date, stating he was giving the document to her and would be responsible to any heir.

ISSUE

Whether the handwritten note constituted a valid donation propter nuptias of the land to the second wife.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s decision. A donation propter nuptias of real property, to be valid, must be made in a public instrument pursuant to Articles 1328 and 633 of the Civil Code. The Statute of Frauds (which allows certain agreements, including those made upon consideration of marriage, to be evidenced by a memorandum) pertains only to the rules of evidence or the manner of proving such agreements, not to the essential or formal validity of the contract itself. Therefore, the private handwritten note, while possibly sufficient as evidence of an agreement under the Statute of Frauds, did not comply with the mandatory public instrument requirement for the substantial validity of a donation propter nuptias. The land was declared property of the plaintiffs as heirs of Vicente Bas.

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