In Re Palagnas

SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE OF DECEASED PERSON Probate of the will in the foreign
country where the alien deceased resides condition sine qua non for Reprobate of the will in the
Philippines
IN RE: IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION TO APPROVE THE WILL OFRUPERTAPALAGANAS
WITH PRAYER FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF SPECIALADMINISTRATOR, MANUEL MIGUEL
PALAGANAS AND BENJAMIN GREGORIOPALAGANAS VS. ERNESTO PALAGANAS
G.R. No. 169144, January 26, 2011
FACTS:
Ruperta C. Palaganas (Ruperta), a Filipino who became a naturalized United States
(U.S.) citizen, died single and childless. In the last will and testament she executed
in California, she designated her brother, Sergio C. Palaganas (Sergio), as the executor of her will
for she had left properties in the Philippines and in the U.S.
Respondent Ernesto C. Palaganas (Ernesto), another brother of Ruperta, filed with the a petition
for the probate of Rupertas will and for his appointment asspecial administrator of her estate. However,
petitioners Manuel Miguel Palaganas(Manuel) and Benjamin Gregorio Palaganas (Benjamin), nephews of
Ruperta,opposed the petition on the ground that Rupertas will should not be probated in the Philippines
but in the U.S. where she executed it
The RTC issued an order:
(a) admitting to probate Rupertas last will;
(b) appointing respondent Ernesto as special administrator at the request of Sergio, the U.S.-based
executor designated in the will; and
(c) issuing the Letters of Special Administration to Ernesto.
Manuel and Benjamin appealed to the Court of Appeals (CA), arguing that an unprobated will
executed by an American citizen in the U.S. cannot be probated for the first time in the Philippines.
The CA affirmed order of the RTC, holding that the RTC properly allowed the probate of the will.
The CA pointed out that Section 2, Rule 76 of the Rules of Court does not require prior probate and
allowance of the will in the country of its execution, before it can be probated in the Philippines. The
present case is different from reprobate, which refers to a will already probated and allowed abroad.
Reprobate is governed by different rules or procedures.
ISSUE:
WON a will executed by a foreigner abroad may be probated in the Philippines although it has not been
previously probated and allowed in the country where it was executed.
Held:
Section 1, Rule 73 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure provides that if the decedent is an
inhabitant of a foreign country, the RTC of the province where he has an estate may take cognizance of
the settlement of such estate. Sections 1 and 2 of Rule 76 further state that the executor, devisee, or
legatee named in the will, or any other person interested in the estate, may, at any time after the death of
the testator, petition the court having jurisdiction to have the will allowed, whether the same be in his
possession or not, or is lost or destroyed.
Our rules require merely that the petition for the allowance of a will must show, so far as known
to the petitioner:
(a) the jurisdictional facts;
(b) the names,ages, and residences of the heirs, legatees, and devisees of the testator or decedent;
(c) the probable value and character of the property of the estate;
(d) the name of the person for whom letters are prayed; and
(e) if the will has not been delivered to the court, the name of the person having custody of it.
Jurisdictional facts refer to the fact of death of the decedent, his residence at the time of his death in the
province where the probate court is sitting, or if he is an inhabitant of a foreign country, the estate he left
in such province. The rules do not require proof that the foreign will has already been allowed and
probated in the country of its execution.
In insisting that Rupertas will should have been first probated and allowed by the court of
California, petitioners Manuel and Benjamin obviously have in mind the procedure for the reprobate of
will before admitting it here. But, reprobate or re-authentication of a will already probated and allowed in
a foreign country is different from that probate where the will is presented for the first time before a
competent court. Reprobate is specifically governed by Rule 77 of the Rules of Court. Contrary to
petitioners stance, since this latter rule applies only to reprobate of a will, it cannot be made to apply to
the present case. In reprobate, the local court acknowledges as binding the findings of the foreign probate
court provided its jurisdiction over the matter can be established.
Besides, petitioners stand is fraught with impractically. If the instituted heirs do not have the
means to go abroad for the probate of the will, it is as good as depriving them outright of their
inheritance, since our law requires that no will shall pass either real or personal property unless the will
has been proved and allowed by the proper court.

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SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE OF DECEASED PERSON Probate of the will in the foreign

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