Barut v. Cabacungan
21 P 461
FACTS:
Barut applied for the probate of the will of deceased, Maria Salomon. The testatrix stated in the will that being unable to read or write, the will was read to her by Ciriaco Concepcion and Timotea Inoselda and that she had instructed Severo Agayan to sign her name to it as testatrix. The probate was contested by a number of the relatives of the deceased on various grounds.
The probate court found that the will was not entitled to probate because “the handwriting of the person who it is alleged signed the name of the testatrix to the will for and on her behalf looked more like the handwriting of one of the other witnesses to the will than to the person whose handwriting it was alleged to be” (i.e. The probate court denied probate because the signature seemed to not have been by Severo Agayan but by another witness).
ISSUE:
Was the dissimilarity in handwriting sufficient to deny probate of the will?
HELD:
No. The SC found that the mere dissimilarity in writing is sufficient to overcome the uncontradicted testimony of all the witnesses that the signature of the testatrix was written by Severo Agayan. It is also immaterial who writes the name of the testatrix provided it is written at her request and in her presence and in the presence of all the witnesses to the execution of the will.
Based on Section 618 of the Code of Civil Procedure, it is clear that with respect to the validity of the will, it is unimportant whether the person who writes the name of the testatrix signs his own or not. The important thing is that it clearly appears that the name of the testatrix was signed at her express direction in the presence of 3 witnesses and that they attested and subscribed it in her presence and in the presence of each other. It may be wise that the one who signs the testator’s name signs also his own; but that is not essential to the validity of the will.
The court also held that the 3 cases cited by the lower court was not applicable. In those cases, the person who signed the will for the testator wrote his own name instead of the testator’s, so that the testator’s name nowhere appeared in the will, and were thus wills not duly executed.
