REMEDIOS NUGUID, PETITIONER AND APPELLANT, -versus- FELIX NUGUID AND PAZ

SALONGA NUGUID, OPPOSITORS AND APPELLEES. G.R. No. L-23445, EN BANC, June 23, 1966,
SANCHEZ, J.

FACTS
Rosario Nuguid died without issue and was survived by her parents, Felix and Paz, and six (6)
brothers and sisters, namely: Alfredo, Federico, Remedios, Conrado, Lourdes and Alberto.

Remedios filed a petition for the probate of Rosario’s alleged holographic will and issuance in her
favor of letters of administration. Felix and Paz filed an opposition on the ground that, inter alia,
Remedios’ institution as universal heir of the deceased will preterit the former. Oppositors
thereafter moved to dismiss the petition on the ground of absolute preterition. On September 6,
1963, petitioner registered her opposition to the motion to dismiss.

The court on November 8, 1963, held that "the will in question is a complete nullity and will
perforce create intestacy of the estate of the deceased Rosario Nuguid" and dismissed the petition.

ISSUE
WON the institution of one of Remedios as the sole, universal heir preterited the compulsory
heirs.

RULING
Yes.  Rosario left no descendants, legitimate or illegitimate. But she left forced heirs in the
direct ascending line - her parents. And, the will completely omits both of them: They thus
received nothing by the testament; tacitly, they were deprived of their legitime; neither were
they expressly disinherited. This is a clear case of preterition. The one- sentence will here
institutes petitioner as the sole, universal heir - nothing more. No specific legacies or bequests
are therein provided for. It is in this posture that we say that the nullity is complete. Perforce,
Rosario Nuguid died intestate. Carefully worded and in clear terms, Article 854 offers no leeway
for inferential interpretation.

Preterition “consists in the omission in the testator’s will of the forced heirs or anyone of them,
either because they are not mentioned therein, or, through mentioned, they are neither
instituted as heirs nor are expressly disinherited”. Disinheritance, in turn, “is a testamentary
disposition depriving any compulsory heir of his share in the legitime for a cause authorized by
law”.

Where the one sentence will institutes the petitioner as the sole, universal heir and preterits
the parents of the testatrix, and it contains no specific legacies or bequests, such universal
institution of petitioner, by itself, is void. And intestate succession ensues.