Title
Bolisay vs. Alcid
Case
G.R. No. L-45494
Decision Date
Aug 31, 1978
Petitioners, registered owners of a Torrens-titled property, contested its inclusion in an estate inventory and rental collection by the administratrix. The Supreme Court ruled the probate court lacked jurisdiction to determine ownership, favoring petitioners' title and excluding the property from the estate.
Font Size:

Case Digest (G.R. No. 6867)

Facts:

The petitioner spouses, Benito Bolisay and Generosa Buted Bolisay, hold a Torrens title covering Parcel 31—a lot in Laoag City acquired in 1961 and later reissued in 1976 with a slightly reduced area due to a prior sale and mortgage transaction. The property, upon which they constructed a 7-door apartment financed partly by a GSIS loan, became the subject of dispute when Angela Buted Pascual, the administratrix of the intestate estate of their late mother Luciana Abadilla, included it in the estate’s inventory filed on May 19, 1973. Concurrently, two separate ordinary actions were pending: one for the annulment of the deed of sale executed by Luciana against the petitioners (Civil Case No. 6135-II) and another for partition (Civil Case No. 2452-I). Meanwhile, without notifying the petitioners or other interested parties, the respondent judge in Special Proceedings No. 4560-II, on July 27, 1976, allowed the administratrix to collect rental income from the apartment based solely on its inclusion in the inventory. Subsequent motions by the petitioners for reconsideration of the rental collection order and for excluding Parcel 31 from the inventory were denied by the court.

Issue:

  1. Whether the probate court, acting in its capacity as supervisory over the estate's inventory, has the authority to determine, even provisionally, the propriety of including a property covered by a Torrens title when there is an ongoing dispute over its ownership.
  2. Whether the inclusion of Parcel 31 in the estate’s inventory as filed by the administratrix, and the subsequent order allowing her to collect the rentals, can be sustained given the contested nature of the title in separate civil actions.
  3. How the presumptive conclusiveness of a Torrens title should be balanced against an administratrix’s claim over a property merely because it was listed in an inventory.

Ruling:

  • (Subscriber-Only)

Ratio:

  • (Subscriber-Only)

Doctrine:

  • (Subscriber-Only)

Analyze Cases Smarter, Faster
Jur is an AI-powered legal research platform in the Philippines for case digests, summaries, and jurisprudence. AI-generated content may contain inaccuracies; please verify independently.