Deducción e inducción en el método científico

The heirs of the deceased cannot divest the court of its already acquired jurisdiction, viz., filing of the application for probate of the will and publication thereof by the mere fact of dividing and distrib-uting extrajudicially the estate of the deceased among themselves; if the extrajudicial partition made by the heirs is submitted to the court and approved after verification that it does not prejudice the rights of third parties, the testate proceedings pending would have been legally terminated. An extrajudicial partition of the estate of a

De v. Court of Appeals, July 646.

v. Vda. de 46 SCRA 577.

SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS A N D SPECIAL R U L E S Rule 74 IMPLEMENTING THE FAMILY COURTS OF 1997

deceased by the heirs become a judicial partition after the approval by the court which had previously acquired jurisdiction of the estate, but as the testate proceeding is terminated in such case without the necessary publication of notice to creditors and other persons inter-ested in the estate required in a regular judicial administration, the effects of such judicial partition would be the same as if it had been effected extrajudicially without the intervention of the court under the provisions of Section 1, Rule 74, that is, subject to claims against the distributees by persons mentioned in Sections 4 and 5 of the same

However, in Cease v. Court of the termination and dismissal of the pending intestate proceedings in the separate ac-tion for partiac-tion was by the Supreme Court. The court ob-served:

the records of this case, we find no indication of any indebtedness of the estate. No creditor has come up to charge the estate within the two-year period after the death of F.L.C., hence, the presumption under Section 1, Rule 74 that the es-tate is free from creditors must apply. Neither has the status of the parties as legal heirs, much less that of respondents been raised as an issue. Besides, extant in the records is the stipula-tion of the parties to submit the pleadings and contents of said administration proceedings for the cognizance of the trial court in adjudicating the civil case for partition. As respondents ob-serve, the parties in both cases are the same, so are the proper-ties involved, that actual division is the primary objective in both actions, the theory and defense of the respective parties are likewise common, and that both cases have been assigned to the same respondent judge. We feel that the unifying effect of the foregoing circumstances invites the wholesome exception to the strictures of procedural rule, thus, allowing instead, room for judicial flexibility. Respondent judge's dismissal of the ad-ministration proceedings then, is a judicious move, appreciable in today's need for effective and speedy administration of

There being ample reason to support the dismissal of the special proceedings in this appealed case, we cannot see in the

v. Sy 21 Phil. 211.

4 8 3 (1979).

Rule 74 SUMMARY S E T T L E M E N T OF ESTATES Sec. 2

records any compelling reason why it may not be dismissed just the same even if considered in a separate action. This is inevitably certain specially when the subject property has al-ready been found appropriate for partition, thus reducing the petition for administration to a mere unnecessary solicitation.

SEC. 2. Summary of of small value.

— Whenever the gross value of the estate of a deceased person, whether he died testate or intestate, does not ex-ceed ten thousand pesos, and that fact is made to appear to the Court of First Instance having jurisdiction of the estate by the petition of an interested person and upon hearing, which shall be held not less than one month nor more than three (3) months from the date of the last publication of a notice which shall be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the province, and after such other notice to interested persons as the court may direct, the court may proceed summarily, without the appointment of an executor or ad-ministrator, and without delay, to grant, if proper, allow-ance of the will, if any there be, to determine who are the persons legally entitled to participate in the estate, and to apportion and divide it among them after the payment of such debts of the estate as the court shall then find to be due; and such persons, in their own right, if they are of lawful age and legal capacity, or by their guardians or trus-tees legally appointed and qualified, if otherwise, shall there-upon be entitled to receive and enter into the possession of the portions of the estate so awarded to them respectively.

The court shall make such order as may be just respecting the costs of the proceedings, and all orders and judgments made or rendered in the course thereof shall be recorded in the office of the clerk, and the order of partition or award, if it involves real estate, shall be recorded in the proper register's office.

NOTES:

The Metropolitan Trial Court, Municipal Trial Court and Mu-nicipal Circuit Trial Court. 19[4] and 33[1], B.P. 129, as

3-4 SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS A N D SPECIAL RULES Rule 74 IMPLEMENTING THE FAMILY COURTS ACT OF 1997

Amended by Section 3 of Republic Act No.

amended now has probate jurisdiction where the value of the estate does not exceed or P200,000.00 in Metro

SEC. 3. Bond to be filed by — The court, before allowing a partition in accordance with the provi-sions of the preceding section, may require the distributees, if property other than real is to be distributed, to file a bond in an amount to be fixed by court, conditioned for the payment of any just claim which may be filed under the next succeeding section.

SEC. 4. Liability of and estate. — If it shall appear at any time within two (2) years after the settlement and distribution of an estate in accordance with the provi-sions of either of the first two sections of this rule, that an heir or other person has been unduly deprived of his lawful participation in the estate, such heir or such other person may compel the settlement of the estate in the courts in the manner hereinafter provided for the purpose of satisfying such lawful participation. And if within the same time of two (2) years, it shall appear that there are debts outstand-ing against the estate which have not been paid, or that an heir or other person has been unduly deprived of his lawful participation payable in money, the court having jurisdic-tion of the estate may, by order for that purpose, after hear-ing, settle the amount of such debts or lawful participation and order how much and in what manner each distributee shall contribute in the payment thereof, and may issue ex-ecution, if circumstances require, against the bond provided in the preceding section or against the real estate belong-ing to the deceased, or both. Such bond and such real estate shall remain charged with a liability to creditors, heirs, or other persons for the full period of two (2) years after such distribution, notwithstanding any transfers of real estate that may have been made.

74 SUMMARY S E T T L E M E N T OF ESTATES

NOTES AND CASES:

1. Rule on Limitations Not Applicable To Those Who