A.M. No. 190 October 18, 1977
Lessons Applicable: No Designation (Insurance)
FACTS:
- Atty. Chanliongco died leaving his heirs: (Distribution)
- widow, Dra. Fidel B. Chanliongco (4/16)
- Mario II Legitimate 17 years old (8/16)
- Ma. Angelina C. Illegitimate (2/16)
- Mario Jr., Illegitimate (2/16)
- Benefits
- (1) retirement benefits - to be settled
- (2) money value of terminal leave - to be settled
- (3) life insurance - released by GSIS to claimants
- (4) refund of retirement premium - released by GSIS to claimants
- The retirement benefits shall accrue to his estate and will be distributed among his Legal heirs in with the benefits on intestate s , as in the caw of a fife if no benefit is named in the policy (Vda. de vs. GSIS, L-28093, Jan. 30, 1971, 37 SCRA 315, 325).
- "Vacation with pay is not a gratuity but is compensation for services rendered." - conjugal property thus 1/2 to his widow and the remaining to the heirs
- Separate Opinions:
- AQUINO, J., concurring:
- I concur. The provisions on legitime are found under the rubric of testamentary succession. That does not mean that the legitime is taken into account only in testamentary succession. The legitime must also be taken into consideration in legal succession.There may be instances, like the instant case, where in legal succession the estate is distributed according to the rules on legitime without applying the rules on intestate succession. The reason is that sometimes the estate is not even sufficient to satisfy the legitimes. The legitimes of the primary compulsory heirs, like a child or descendant, should first be satisfied.In this case the decedent's legal heirs are his legitimate child, his widow and two intimate children. His estate is partitioned among those heirs by giving them their respective time.The legitimate child gets one-half of the estate as his legitime which is regarded as his share as a legal heir Art 888, Civil Code).The widow's legitime is one-fourth of the estate. That represents also her share as a legal heir (Art. 892, 1st sentence, Civil Code).The remaining one-fourth of the estate, which is the free portion, goes to the illegitimate children in equal shares, as their legitime, Pursuant to the provision that 'the legitimate of the illegitimate children shall be taken from the portion of the estate at the free disposal of the testator, provoked that in no case shall the total legitime of such illegitimate children exceed that free portion, and that the legitime of the surviving spouse must first be fully satisfied par., art. 895, Civil Code).The rule in Santillon vs. Miranda, L-19281, June 30, 1965, 14 SCRA 563, that when the surviving spouse concurs with only one legitimate child, the spouse is entitled to one-half of the estate and the gets the other half, t to article 996 of the Civil Code, does not apply to the case because here intimate children concur with the surviving spouse and the intimate child.In this case, to divide the estate between the surviving spouse and the illegitimate child that deprive the illegitimate children of their legitime.So, the decendent's estate is distributed in the proportion of 1/2 for the legitimate child, 1/4 for the widow and 1/8 each for the two illegitimate children.Also not of possible application to this case is the rule that the legal of an acknowledge natural child is 1/2 of the legitime of the legitimate child of that the of the spurious child is 2/5 of that of the of the intimate child or 4/5 of that of that of the acknowledged natural child.The rule be applied because the estate is not sufficient to cover legitimes of all compulsory heirs. That is one of the flaws of the law of succession.A situation as in the instant case may arise where the illegitimate children get less than their legitime.With respect to the decendant's unpaid salary and the money value of his leave, the same are conjugal properties because of the rule that property "obtained by the or work, or as salary of the spouses, or either of them", is conjugal in character (Art. 153[2], Civil Code).
