GR 48155; (November, 1942) (Digest)
G.R. No. 48155 & G.R. No. 48156 ; November 28, 1942
Case Parties/Title: JOSE NARCISO Y ANGELES, ET AL., plaintiffs-appellants, vs. FLORENTINO MAURICIO, defendant-appellee. ( G.R. No. 48155 ) and JOSE NARCISO Y ANGELES ET AL., plaintiffs-appellants, vs. VICENTE MAURICIO, defendant-appellee. ( G.R. No. 48156 )
FACTS
The plaintiffs, Jose Narciso y Angeles et al., filed complaints alleging that sales of property executed by a deceased person in favor of the defendants (Florentino Mauricio and Vicente Mauricio) were fictitious. The complaints further allege that the deceased died intestate without any descendant or ascendant, and that both the plaintiffs and the defendants are her collateral (intestate) heirs. The defendants filed a demurrer and a motion to dismiss, which, for the purposes of the court’s ruling, deemed the plaintiffs’ allegations as admitted.
ISSUE
Whether the plaintiffs, as intestate heirs, have the right to have the alleged fictitious sales declared null and void and to ask for the partition of the property left by the deceased.
RULING
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs-appellants.
1. Since the complaints allege the sales are fictitious—an allegation deemed admitted by the demurrer and motion to dismiss—the sales are considered non-existent, not merely null. Consequently, there is no need for an action to annul them. Given the admitted allegations that the deceased died intestate and the parties are her collateral heirs, the plaintiffs and defendants are entitled to succeed to the properties. The plaintiffs are therefore entitled to seek the division of the properties among themselves and the defendants in accordance with law.
2. Furthermore, under Article 1257 of the Civil Code, contracts are binding only upon the parties who execute them and their heirs, except when rights and obligations are not transmissible. When these cases are decided on the merits, determining the validity of the sales may be necessary, but this would only be incidental to the main relief sought by the plaintiffs: the partition of the properties left by the deceased.