- CASE DIGEST -
De la Cerna
v. Potot
G.R. No.
L-20234, December 23, 1964
Topic: Probate of Joint Wills
FACTS: Spouses Bernabe de la Serna and Gervasia Rebaca, executed a joint
last will and testament whereby they willed that their two parcels of land
acquired during their marriage together with all improvements thereon shall be
given to Manuela Rebaca, their niece. Bernabe died and the will was probated in
1939 after due publication as required by law and there being no opposition. By
order of Oct. 31, 1939, the Court admitted for probate the said will but only
for the part of Bernabe.
Upon the death of Gervasia Rebaca, another petition for the probate of
the same will insofar as Gervasia was concerned was filed by Manuela but the
court dismissed it for failure of Manuela to appear.
Paula de la Cerna questioned for the nullity of the joint will of Bernabe
being prohibited in the Philippine law. The Court of First Instance ordered the
petition heard and declared the testament null and void, for being executed
contrary to the prohibition of joint wills in the Civil Code but on appeal by
the testamentary heir, the Court of Appeals reversed, on the ground that the
decree of probate in 1939 was issued by a court of probate jurisdiction and
conclusive on the due execution of the testament. Hence, this appeal.
ISSUE: Whether or not the joint will is valid as to
the share of Gervasia who died later than Bernabe.
RULING: NO.
The appealed decision correctly held that the final decree of probate,
entered in 1939 by the Court of First Instance of Cebu (when the testator,
Bernabe de la Cerna, died), has conclusive effect as to his last will and
testament despite the fact that even then the Civil Code already decreed the
invalidity of joint wills, whether in favor of the joint testators,
reciprocally, or in favor of a third party (Art. 669, old Civil Code). A final
judgment rendered on a petition for the probate of a will is binding upon the
whole world. However, this is only with respect
to the estate of the husband but cannot affect the estate of the wife;
considering that a joint will is a separate will of each testator.The probate
decree in 1989 could only affect the share of the deceased husband, Bernabe de
la Cerna. It could not include the disposition of the share of the wife,
Gervasia Rebaca, who was then still alive, and over whose interest in the
conjugal properties the probate court acquired no jurisdiction, precisely
because her estate could not then be in issue.
Be it remembered that prior to the new Civil Code, a will could not be
probated during the testator's lifetime. It
follows that the validity of the joint will, in so far as the estate of the
wife was concerned, must be, on her death, reexamined and adjudicated de novo,
since a joint will is considered a separate will of each testator.
Therefore, the undivided interest of Gervasia Rebaca should pass upon her death
to her heirs’ intestate, and not to the testamentary heir, unless some other
valid will in her favor is shown to exist.
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