G.R. No. L-8806; March 24, 1916

FACTS:
Alejandro Baldemor, as the special administrator of the estate of the deceased Benedicto Bonot, filed an action to recover possession of certain real and personal property from the defendants, who are the legitimate heirs of Bonot. The defendants, all of lawful age, answered that they had already mutually divided the estate among themselves by a written agreement (Exhibit A), that no debts existed against the estate, and that the plaintiff had no authority to maintain the action. The case was submitted to the lower court based solely on the pleadings, without the presentation of evidence. The trial court dismissed the complaint, holding that the plaintiff had no right to maintain the action. The plaintiff appealed.

ISSUE:
May a special administrator maintain an action to recover possession of property from the heirs when all heirs are of lawful age, there are no debts against the estate, and the heirs have mutually divided the estate among themselves?

RULING:
No. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the lower court. Citing Section 596 of the Code of Procedure in Civil Actions (as amended by Act No. 2331 ), the Court held that when all heirs are of lawful age and legal capacity and there are no debts due from the estate, the heirs may, by a written agreement executed by all of them, apportion and divide the estate without court proceedings. Following its precedent in Ilustre vs. Alaras Frondosa, the Court ruled that in the absence of debts, the heirs may immediately administer the estate, and there is no occasion for the intervention of an administrator in its settlement and partition. An administrator has no right to intervene in the division among adult heirs when no debts exist. The only ground for an administrator to demand possession from heirs who have made a mutual partition is if the property will be required to be sold to pay the debts of the deceased, which was not alleged in this case.