G.R. No. L-40003 - Yap vs. Court of Appeals

His first marriage was with Talina Bianong in 1939, celebrated according to Muslim rites and practices at Bara-as Plantation, Malabang, Lanao del Sur.
The couple lived in the parents’ house of Maning Yap at the poblacion of Malabang, Lanao del Sur.
From this marriage, four children were born, although two died in infancy during the Japanese occupation. The surviving children are petitioners Shirley Yap and Jaime Yap.

While still married to Talina Bianong, Maning Yap contracted a second marriage with Nancy Yap on December 11, 1948 in a civil ceremony performed by a District Judge.

Nancy Yap entered the marriage under the belief that Maning Yap was unmarried.
They had four children together: Maning Yap, Jr., Julia Yap, Jasmin Yap, and Samuel Yap, who later became respondents in the case.

On February 21, 1964, Maning Yap died in an airplane crash, leaving behind two separate families living about 80 kilometers apart.
Special Proceeding No. 1334 was filed on March 3, 1964 by Talina Bianong (later supplanted by Shirley Yap after an appointment as regular administratrix) seeking letters of administration for the intestate estate, which included personal and real properties valued at approximately P100,000.00 located in Malabang, Lanao del Sur.
The petition filed was met with opposition from Nancy Yap and her minor children who alleged Nancy’s status as the legitimate widow and the legitimacy of her children.

The Court of First Instance of Lanao del Sur, after a trial, declared Talina Bianong and her children as the legal heirs of Maning Yap.

The decision apportioned the estate into three equal shares: one-third for Talina Bianong (as surviving spouse) and one-third each for Shirley Yap and Jaime Yap (as his legitimate children).
The opposition and claim of Nancy Yap and her children were dismissed.

On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision by setting aside the initial ruling and ordering the entire estate to be divided into two equal halves:

One half to be allocated to Talina Bianong and her children (from the first marriage).
The other half to Nancy Yap and her children (from the second marriage).

The appellate decision was influenced by the precedent set in Lao and Lao v. Dee Tim, where similar facts regarding dual families were examined under the Leyes de Partidas.

The petitioners argued that Maning Yap died in 1964, a time when the New Civil Code was already in effect, and thus, the distribution should follow its provisions rather than the outdated Leyes de Partidas.
The Court noted the transitional provision under Article 2263 of the New Civil Code governing rights to inheritance depending on the decedent’s time of death.
The record showed that the properties under administration were acquired during the first marriage and were deemed conjugal properties under Article 142 of the New Civil Code.
The need for a liquidation of the conjugal partnership of gains was stressed so as to fairly apportion the net remainder of the partnership between Talina Bianong and Maning Yap.

Whether the estate of Maning Yap, who died in 1964, should be distributed under the provisions of the New Civil Code (as governed by Article 2263) or under the old Leyes de Partidas, which had been applied in a similar case (Lao and Lao v. Dee Tim).

Whether Nancy Yap’s marriage to Maning Yap, which was contracted while the first marriage was subsisting and thus illegal and void under Act 3613, affects her inheritance rights.
Whether the children born of the second, void marriage are still considered compulsory heirs by virtue of being natural children by legal fiction.

Whether the real and personal properties acquired during the first marriage should be liquidated as part of the conjugal partnership of gains.
How the net remainder of said partnership is to be divided between the surviving spouses and further among their respective heirs, taking into account the separate claims of the two families.