Case Digest (G.R. No. 102126)
Facts:
Angelica Ledesma obtained a judicial declaration of nullity of her marriage with Cipriano Pedrosa by the RTC of Negros Occidental, Branch 51 in Civil Case No. 1446 on 8 February 1984. The judgment’s dispositive portion stated that properties acquired during cohabitation would be treated as co-owned, while properties acquired after marriage would form part of the conjugal partnership, to be liquidated under the Civil Code.
After an implementing order was issued on 4 May 1989 requiring submission and verification of the property inventory, Cipriano Pedrosa died, and a probate proceeding was filed for his estate in Sp. Proc. No. 4159 with Nelson Jimena as executor. Due to the parties’ disagreement on property characterization, the partition case proceeded with further submissions, but upon a later takeover, respondent presiding judge-designate issued an order on 24 January 1991 declaring the partition case terminated as moot and academic due to the pendency of the estate proceedings and ordering substitution and intervention to be handled in the intestate court.
Issues:
- Whether the RTC judge-designate gravely erred in dismissing the supplemental partition case as moot and academic due to the death of the spouse and the pendency of probate proceedings.
- Whether the remedy of intervention in the probate proceedings was the proper course to implement the marriage annulment judgment’s property division.
Ruling:
The Court reversed and set aside the RTC order dated 24 January 1991. It held that the partition (liquidation) case should not be deemed terminated merely because a spouse died while liquidation was pending.
The respondent judge (or successor) was directed to decide the partition (liquidation) case (Civil Case No. 1446) within thirty (30) days from receipt of notice of the decision, to determine which properties of the conjugal partnership should be adjudicated to each spouse, after which properties allocated to the deceased husband would be handled under the estate proceedings.
Ratio:
The Court reasoned that the effects of the final decree of marriage annulment on the property regime require dissolution and liquidation as an incident of the judgment rendered in the same case, drawing from Macadangdang vs. Court of Appeals. It treated the partition/ liquidation remaining after finality of the annulment judgment as a necessary consequence that the trial court must resolve.
It further held that the death of the spouse before complete liquidation posed a procedural problem addressed by applying intestate succession rules to whatever properties remain to be allocated to the deceased spouse, with estate proceedings taking over only for the distribution of the deceased spouse’s share. Hence, intervention in the estate proceedings was not the proper substitute for the RTC’s duty to complete the partition determination.
Doctrine:
- A final decree dissolving the spouses’ property regime carries with it the duty to dissolve and liquidate the property and to resolve the remaining incidental matters in the same case.
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