ZONIA ANA T. SOLANO VS. THE COURT OF APPEALS

G.R. No. L-41971, November 29, 1983

ZONIA ANA T. SOLANO VS. THE COURT OF APPEALS, BIENVENIDO S. GARCIA, AND EMETERIA S. GARCIA

FACTS: SOLANO, a resident of Tabaco, Albay, married Pilar Riosa.  The latter died.  On a world tour he met a French woman, Lilly Gorand, who became his second wife.  The union was short lived as she left him in 1929.  In the early part of 1930, SOLANO started having amorous relations with Juana Garcia, out of which affair was born Bienvenido Garcia and Emeteria Garcia. The facts establish that SOLANO during his lifetime recognized the GARCIAS as his children by acts of support and provisions for their education.

In 1935, SOLANO started living with Trinidad Tuagnon.  Three children were born out of this relation but only petitioner ZONIA Ana Tuagnon is living.  SOLANO obtained a divorce from Lilly Gorand. Later on, he and Trinidad Tuagnon executed an instrument, acknowledging Zonia as a "natural child". The document was registered with the Local Civil Registrar.

SOLANO executed his "Ultima Voluntad y Testamento", instituting ZONIA as his universal heir to all his personal and real properties except for five parcels of land in Albay, which were given to Trinidad Tuagnon in usufruct.  Upon SOLANO’s petition, the Will was duly probated.

ISSUE: Whether institution of heir in the Last Will and Testament of SOLANO is null and void.

RULING: Yes. The Trial Court and the Appellate Court had jurisdiction to conclude that, upon the facts, the GARCIAS and ZONIA were in the same category as illegitimate children; that ZONIA’s acknowledgment as a "natural child" in a notarial document exe­cuted by SOLANO and Trinidad Tuagnon on December 22, 1943 was erroneous because at the time of her birth in 1941, SOLANO was still married to Lilly Gorand, his divorce having been obtained only in 1943, and, therefore, did not have the legal capacity to contract marriage at the time of ZONIA's conception, that being compulsory heirs, the GARCIAS were, in fact, preterited from SOLANO's Last Will and Testament; and that as a result of said preterition, the institution of ZONIA as sole heir by SOLANO is null and void pursuant to Article 854 of the Civil Code.

"The    preterition or omission of one, some, or all of the compulsory heirs in the direct line, whether living at the time of the execution of the will or born after the death of the testator, shall annul the institution of heir; but the devises and legacies shall be valid insofar as they are not inofficious.

As provided in the foregoing provision, the disposition in the Will giving the usufruct in favor of Trinidad Tuagnon over the five parcels of land in Albay, is a legacy, recognized in Article 563 of the Civil Code, and should be respected in so far as it is not inofficious.