Case Digest (G.R. No. 229010)
Facts:
In the Matter of the Petition to Approve the Will of Luz Gaspe Lipson and Issuance of Letters Testamentary, G.R. No. 229010, November 23, 2020, Supreme Court Third Division, Leonen, J., writing for the Court.
Petitioner Roel P. Gaspi filed a petition for probate and issuance of letters testamentary for the last will of Luz Gaspe Lipson, an American citizen who was temporarily residing in Iriga City and who executed a will on February 23, 2011 and died on October 17, 2015. The presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 36, Iriga City, Judge Maria Clarissa L. Pacis-Trinidad, was impleaded as respondent.
On October 3, 2016, Gaspi filed a petition in the RTC to probate Lipson’s will and to issue letters testamentary without bond. On October 6, 2016, the RTC motu proprio dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction, reasoning that Lipson’s national law (as an American citizen) governs her testamentary succession and that probate should be sought in the United States, with recognition in the Philippines only after a foreign probate judgment. Gaspi moved for reconsideration; on November 16, 2016 the RTC denied the motion, explaining that the Court’s earlier decisions (including Palaganas v. Palaganas) did not apply because Lipson’s will had been executed in the Philippines.
Petitioner filed a petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45 to the Supreme Court, arguing Philippine law permits probate of wills executed by aliens in the Philippines and citing Palaganas as authorizing probate here even if the foreign probate has not been obtained. The Supreme Court directed the respondent to comment. Respondent maintained the dismissal was corr...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Did the Regional Trial Court lack jurisdiction (competence) to take cognizance of and to probate the will of an alien executed in the Philippines when the will has not been probated in the decedent’s country of nationality?
- Whether Philippine law may govern the extrinsic validity (forms and solemnities) of a will executed in the Philippines by an alien, or whether the decedent’s national law must automatical...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)