REMEDIOS NUGUID VS. FELIX NUGUID

G. R. No. L-23445, June 23, 1966

REMEDIOS NUGUID VS. FELIX NUGUID AND PAZ SALONGA NUGUID

FACTS: Rosario Nuguid died, single, without descendants, legitimate or illegitimate. Surviving her were her legitimate parents, Felix Nuguid and Paz Salonga Nuguid, and 6 brothers and sisters, namely: Alfredo, Federico, Remedios, Conrado, Lourdes and Alberto, all surnamed Nuguid. Petitioner Remedios Nuguid filed in the Court of First Instance of Rizal a holographic will allegedly executed by Rosario Nuguid some 11 years before her demise. The legitimate father and mother of the deceased entered their opposition on the ground that by the institution of petitioner Remedios Nuguid as universal heir of the deceased, oppositors - who are compulsory heirs of the deceased in the direct ascending line - were illegally preterited and that in consequence the institution is void.

ISSUE: Whether the will is completely void

RULING: Yes. This is a clear case of preterition. The deceased Rosario Nuguid left no descendants, legitimate or illegitimate. But she left forced heirs in the direct ascending line - her parents, now oppositors Felix Nuguid and Paz Salonga Nuguid. The will here does not explicitly disinherit the testatrix's parents, the forced heirs. It simply omits their names altogether. The disputed order, we observe, declares the will in question "a complete nullity". Article 854 of the Civil Code in turn merely nullifies "the institution of heir." Considering, however, that the will before us solely provides for the institution of petitioner as universal heir, and nothing more, the result is the same. The entire will is null.