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in Re - Will of Rev. Abadia, G.R. No. L-7188, August 9, 1954

The document summarizes a 1954 court case regarding the validity of a holographic will executed in 1923. At the time the will was executed, holographic wills were not permitted and this will did not meet the necessary requirements. However, by the time the case was decided, the new Civil Code permitted holographic wills. The court held that the old civil code at the time of execution applies, not the new code in force later. Article 795 of the new code also states that a will's validity depends on the law in force at the time of making. The court reasoned that allowing a defective will to be validated by a later law would divest the legal heirs of their vested

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Kathrine Marie Abquina
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131 views1 page

in Re - Will of Rev. Abadia, G.R. No. L-7188, August 9, 1954

The document summarizes a 1954 court case regarding the validity of a holographic will executed in 1923. At the time the will was executed, holographic wills were not permitted and this will did not meet the necessary requirements. However, by the time the case was decided, the new Civil Code permitted holographic wills. The court held that the old civil code at the time of execution applies, not the new code in force later. Article 795 of the new code also states that a will's validity depends on the law in force at the time of making. The court reasoned that allowing a defective will to be validated by a later law would divest the legal heirs of their vested

Uploaded by

Kathrine Marie Abquina
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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1. In Re: Will of Rev. Abadia, G.R. No.

L-7188, August 9, 1954

Facts: Father Abadia, parish priest of Talisay, Cebu, executed a holographic will on September
6, 1923. He died on January 14, 1943. On October 2, 1946, Andres Enriquez, one of the
legatees in the will, filed a petition for its probate in the CFI of Cebu. Some of the cousins and
nephews who would inherit the estate of the deceased if he left no will, filed opposition. The said
will was admitted to probate on January 24, 1952.

Holographic wills were not yet permitted by law at the time the said will was executed, and the
law at that time imposed certain requirements for the execution of wills. Said requirements were
not complied with in this case. And at the time of the hearing and when the case was to be
decided, the new Civil Code was already in force, which Code permitted the execution of
holographic wills.

Issue: What is the applicable law as to the validity of the holographic will: the old Civil Code
when the will was executed or the new Civil Code which could have validated the will

Held: The old civil code applies. But Article 795 of the new Civil Code expressly provides:
"The validity of a will as to its form depends upon the observance of the law in force at
the time it is made.” Said provision is an expression or statement of the weight of authority to
the effect that the validity of a will is to be judged not by the law inforce at the time of the
testator’s death or at the time the supposed will is presented in court for probate or when the
petition is decided by the court but at the time the instrument was executed. x x x

Of course, there is the view that the intention of the testator should be the ruling and controlling
factor and that all adequate remedies and interpretations should be resorted to in order to carry
out said intention, and that when statutes passed after the execution of the will and after the
death of the testator lessen the formalities required by law for the execution of wills, said
subsequent statutes should be applied so as to validate wills defectively executed according to
the law in force at the time of execution. However, we should not forget that from the day of the
death of the testator, if he leaves a will, the title of the legatees and devisees under it becomes a
vested right, protected under the due process clause of the constitution against a subsequent
change in the statute adding new legal requirements of execution of wills which would invalidate
such a will.

By parity of reasoning, when one executes a will which is invalid for failure to observe and
follow the legal requirements at the time of its execution then upon his death he should
be regarded and declared as having died intestate, and his heirs will then inherit by intestate
succession, and no subsequent law with more liberal requirements or which dispenses with
such requirements as to execution should be allowed to validate a defective will and thereby
divest the heirs of their vested rights in the estate by intestate succession. The general rule is
that the Legislature can not validate void wills. The holographic will is denied probate.

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