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SANTILLON,
petitioner-appellant,
vs.
Perfecta MIRANDA, Benito MIRANDA and RosarioCORRALES,
oppositors-appellees.
G.R. No. L-19281, June 30, 1965
FACTS:
Pedro Santillon died without testament leaving his wife, Perfecta
Miranda and one son, Claro.
Four years after Pedros death, Claro filed a petition for letters of
administration which was opposed by his mother and spouses Benito Miranda
and Rosario Corrales. The court appointed commissioners to draft a project of
partition and distribution of all properties of Pedro. Claro then filed a motion to
declare share of heirs and to resolve conflicting claims of the parties invoking
Art.892 of the New Civil Code insisting that after deducting from the
conjugal properties (conjugal share of Perfecta), the remaining must be
divided as follows: for her and for him. On the other hand, Perfecta
claimed besides her conjugal half, she was entitled under Art. 996 of the NCC
to another of the remaining half. After due notice and hearing, the court
held that Perfecta is entitled to shares and the remaining share for Claro
after deducting the share of the widow as co-owner of the conjugal properties.
Hence, this appeal.
ISSUE:
The manner of division of share of the estate of an intestate decedent when
the only survivors are the spouse and one legitimate child.
RULING:
Intestate proceedings in the New Civil Codes chapter on legal or
intestate succession, the only article applicable is Art. 996. Our conclusion
(equal shares) seems a logical inference from the circumstance that whereas
Article 834 of the Spanish Civil Code form which Art. 996 was taken,
contained two paragraphs governing two contingencies, the first, where the
widow or widower survives with legitimate children (general rule), and the
second, where the widow or widower survives with only one child (exception),
Art. 996 omitted to provide for the second situation, thereby indicating the