G.R. No. 28946 , January 16, 1929
In re estate of Piraso, deceased. SIXTO ACOP, petitioner-appellant, vs. SALMING PIRASO, ET AL., opponents-appellees.

FACTS

Sixto Acop sought the probate of a document, Exhibit A, as the last will and testament of the deceased Piraso. The will was written entirely in the English language. The opponents opposed its probate. The Court of First Instance of Benguet denied the probate, finding that while Piraso knew the Ilocano dialect imperfectly and could make himself understood in it, the will should have been written in that dialect. The proponent-appellant appealed.

ISSUE

Whether the will (Exhibit A) written in English is valid, given that the testator, Piraso, did not know the English language.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court AFFIRMED the judgment of the lower court denying probate.
The Court held that the will is void and cannot be probated. Section 628 of the Code of Civil Procedure (now reflected in Section 804 of the Revised Rules of Court) mandatorily provides that a will must be written in a language or dialect known to the testator. It was established and uncontroverted that the deceased Piraso did not know English, the language in which the will was written. He only knew the Igorot dialect and had a smattering of Ilocano. Therefore, the will fails to comply with an essential requirement of the law. The Court deemed it unnecessary to resolve the subsidiary questions raised by the appellant (such as whether the will should have been in Ilocano or how well Piraso knew Ilocano), as the fundamental defectthe will being in an unknown languagewas sufficient to invalidate it.