GR L 45160; (May, 1939) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-45160; May 23, 1939
In re Will of the deceased Rosario Fabie y Grey. JOSE GREY, petitioner-appellee, vs. SERAFIN FABIE and JOSE FABIE, oppositors-appellants.
FACTS
After the death of Rosario Fabie y Grey, her alleged will was presented for probate. The oppositors, Serafin Fabie and Jose Fabie, who are acknowledged natural children of Ramon Fabie y Gutierrez (the uncle of the testatrix), assailed the will. The probate court initially held that the oppositors lacked legal personality to oppose the probate because they could not inherit intestate from the testatrix, their natural cousin, and ordered the proceedings to continue without their intervention. The court subsequently probated the will. The oppositors appealed, assigning errors that the court erred in: (1) holding they could not inherit intestate from the testatrix by right of representation; (2) not holding the will was not executed in accordance with law; and (3) not denying probate of the will independently of the oppositors’ rights.
ISSUE
1. Whether the oppositors, as acknowledged natural children of the testatrix’s uncle, have a legal interest to oppose the probate of the will, specifically, whether they can inherit from the testatrix ab intestato by right of representation.
2. Whether the will was executed in accordance with the formalities required by law.
RULING
1. On the legal interest of the oppositors: The Supreme Court ruled that the oppositors have no legal interest to oppose the probate. Under Article 943 of the Civil Code, a natural child has no right to succeed ab intestato the legitimate relatives of the parent who acknowledged it, nor can such legitimate relatives inherit from the natural child. Thus, the oppositors cannot inherit intestate from their legitimate cousin, the testatrix. Their claim of representation under Articles 924 and 925 of the Civil Code fails because the right of representation in the collateral line applies only to children of brothers or sisters of the deceased. The oppositors are children of the testatrix’s uncle, not of a brother or sister, so the right of representation does not apply. Having no interest in the estate, they lack personality to impugn the will.
2. On the formal validity of the will: The Court examined the will ex proprio motu as courts must ensure legal requirements are met. The will’s attestation clause, read together with the testatrix’s statement at the end of the will, sufficiently established that the testatrix signed on the left margin of each page and at the foot of the last page in the presence of the three instrumental witnesses, and that the witnesses signed in the presence of the testatrix and each other. The will therefore complied with the formalities of execution. The alleged defect in the attestation clause was cured by the explicit recitals in the will itself, not by evidence aliunde.
The appealed order and decision were affirmed.
AI Generated by Armztrong.