[ SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS | ATTY.

TANTUICO ] 1

CONSTANTINO ACAIN v. IAC and ordered the TC to dismiss the petition for the probate of the will of
G.R. No. 72706, October 27, 1987 Nemesio.
Ponente Paras His MR having been denied, Acain filed this present petition for the
Digest by: LAURENTE review of IAC’s decision.

TOPIC: EXCEPTIONS (During Probate Proper, the Court’s Area of ISSUE/S:

Inquiry is Limited to the Examination of the Extrinsic Validity of a 1. W/N petitioner Acain, a nephew of the deceased, is an interest
Will) party in the probate of the latter’s will.

DOCTRINE: HELD:

NO. In order that a person may be allowed to intervene in a probate

FACTS:
On May 1984, Constantino Acain (petitioner hereinafter Acain) filed on
the RTC of Cebu City, a petition for the probate of the will of the late
Nemesio Acain and for the issuance to Acain of letters testamentary
docketed as Special Proceedings No. 591-A-CEB. When Nemesio
died, he left a will in which Acain and his siblings were instituted as
heirs. The will allegedly executed by Nemesio was submitted by
petitioner without objection raised by private respondents. The will,
written in Bisaya, contained provisions on burial rites, payment of
debts, and the appointmentof a certain Atty. Ignacio Villagonzalo as
the executor. Segundo, the brother of Nemesio, was initially instituted
as the heir, in case Segundo pre-deceases Nemesio, Segundo’s
children would then succeed.
proceeding, he must have an interest in the estate, or in the will, or in the
property to be affected by it either as executor or as a claimant of the estate
and an interested party is one who would be benefited by the estate such as
an heir or one who has a claim against the estate like a creditor.
Petitioner is not the appointed executor, neither a devisee or a legatee
there being no mention in the testamentary disposition of any gift of an
individual item of personal or real property he is called upon to receive.
Intestacy having resulted from the preterition of respondent adopted child
and the universal institution of heirs, petitioner is in effect not an heir of the
testator. He has no legal standing to petition for the probate of the will left
by the deceased and the probate proceeding must be dismissed.

After the petition was set for hearing, the respondents (Virginia
Fernandez, legally adopted daughter of Nemesio, and the latter's
widow, Rosa Acain) filed a motion to dismiss on the following
grounds: for the petitioner has no legal capacity to institute these
proceedings; he is merely a universal heir and the Rosa and
Fernandez have been pretirited. Motion was denied.
After the denial, respondents filed with the SC a petition for certiorari
and prohibition with preliminary injunction which was subsequently
referred to the IAC. The IAC granted the private respondents' petition

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