Portugal Vs Portugal
Portugal Vs Portugal
Portugal Vs Portugal
LEONILA PORTUGAL-BELTRAN
ISSUE:
HELD:
The common doctrine in Litam, Solivio and Guilas in which the adverse parties are
putative heirs to the estate of a decedent or parties to the special proceedings for its
settlement is that if the special proceedings are pending, or if there are no special
proceedings filed but there is, under the circumstances of the case, a need to file one,
then the determination of, among other issues, heirship should be raised and settled in
said special proceedings.
It appearing, however, that in the present case the only property of the intestate estate
of Portugal is the parcel of land, to still subject it, under the circumstances of the case, to
a special proceeding which could be long, hence, not expeditious, just to establish the
status of Puerta and Portugal Jr. as heirs is not only impractical; it is burdensome to the
estate with the costs and expenses of an administration proceeding. And it is
superfluous in light of the fact that the parties to the civil case-subject of the present
case, could and had already in fact presented evidence before the trial court which
assumed jurisdiction over the case upon the issues it defined during pre-trial.
In fine, under the circumstances of the present case, there being no compelling reason
to still subject Portugal‘s estate to administration proceedings since a determination of
Puerta and Portugal Jr.‘s status as heirs could be achieved in the civil case filed by
Puerta and Portugal Jr., the trial court should proceed to evaluate
the evidence presented by the parties during the trial and render a decision thereon
upon the issues it defined during pre-trial.