Case Digest (G.R. No. 29158)
Facts:
Estate of the Deceased Rosendo Hernaez, G.R. No. 29158. December 29, 1928, the Supreme Court En Banc, Avanceaa, J., writing for the Court. The appeal challenges the approval by the court below of the judicial administrator’s account and the partition of the intestate estate.The administrator, Rafael R. Alunan (appellee), filed an account for settlement of the estate of Rosendo Hernaez, which the trial court approved. One of the heirs, Jose Hernaez, assigned his entire portion to Eleuteria Ch. Veloso (appellant/opponent). After the approval, Veloso objected to several items in the account and to the proposed partition, advancing four specific errors in the court below’s resolution.
First, Veloso contested the imposition of a preferred lien of P12,683.83 on the Panaogao Hacienda, which the court had adjudicated to her. The administrator’s account showed that Jose Hernaez had leased the hacienda for two harvests at a rent of 12% of production but with a minimum obligation equal to 12% of 8,000 piculs; production fell below 8,000, and the unpaid difference was computed as P12,683.83, which the administrator treated as a debt chargeable to Jose’s share and thus transmitted to Veloso by assignment.
Second, Veloso attacked a holding that P20,000 should be a lien on the Panaogao Hacienda in favor of Alunan should he be ordered to pay that sum in Civil Case No. 6391 of the Court of First Instance of Iloilo; the administrator later agreed that this holding could be eliminated from the judgment.
Third, Veloso protested the allowance of P24,991.42 as attorney’s fees and administrators’ compensation, alleging excessiveness. The record showed substantial payments (some to Jose himself) and prior approvals by the lower court; multiple lawyers and administrators had been employed and large interests were at stake.
Fourth, Veloso objected to the partition as it affected the widow: the account distributed the distributable sum in money equally among heirs including the widow, each receiving P11,122.38, while the total distributable sum was stated as P88,979.08. Veloso argued that (a) the widow’s right is a usufruct and there can be no usufruct of money; (b) the widow’s share should be offset by a P55,000 pension she had already received; and (c) the widow’s share was otherwise miscomputed under the law of legitime.
The court below approved the administrator’s account and partition subject to the challenged items, and the matter...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the lower court err in imposing a preferred lien of P12,683.83 upon the Panaogao Hacienda adjudicated to appellant Eleuteria Ch. Veloso?
- Should the alleged P20,000 lien in favor of administrator Rafael Alunan (contingent on his liability in Civil Case No. 6391) be sustained as a charge on the Panaogao Hacienda?
- Were the allowances of P24,991.42 as attorney’s fees and compensation of administrators excessive and improper?
- Was the partition and adjudication of a money distributable share to the widow improper either because (a) there can be no usufruct of money, (b) the widow’s pension of P55,000 should offset her share, or (c) the wid...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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