Nepomuceno v. Court of Appeals
No. L-62952, October 9, 1985
Martin Jugo died on July 16, 1974 in Malabon, Rizal. He left a last Will and
Testament where he named and appointed petitioner Sofia Nepomuceno as his sole
and only executor of his estate. It is clearly stated in the will that the testator was legally
married to a certain Rufina Gomez by whom he had two legitimate children, but since
1952, he had been estranged from his lawfully wedded wife and had been living with
petitioner as husband and wife. In fact, on December 5, 1952, the testator Martin Jugo
and the petitioner herein, Sofia, were married on Tarlac before the Justice of the Peace.
The testator devised to his forced heirs, namely, his legal wife Rufina Gomez and his
children his entire estate and the free portion thereof to herein petitioner. Subsequently,
the petitioner filed a petition for the probate of the last will and testament of the
deceased, but the legal wife of the testator Rufina and her children filed an opposition
alleging inter alia that the execution of the will was procured by undue and improper
influence on the part of the petitioner; that at the time of the execution of the will, the
testator was already very sick and that the petitioner having admitted her living in
concubinage with the testator, she is wanting integrity and thus letters testamentary
should not be issued to her.
The lower court denied the probate of the will on the ground that as the testator
admitted in his will to cohabiting with the petitioner because on the face of the will, the
invalidity of its intrinsic provisions is evident. The appellate court declared the will to be
valid except that the devise in favor of the petitioner is null and void.
ISSUE: Whether or not the donation made by the testator in favor of herein petitioner
was valid.
No. There is no question from the records about the fact of a prior existing
marriage when Martin Jugo lived together in an ostensible marital relationship for 22
years until his death. It is also a fact that Martin Jugo and Sofia Nepomuceno contracted
a marriage before the Justice of the Peace of Tarlac. The man was then 51 years old
while the woman was 48. Nepomuceno contends that she acted in good faith for 22
years in the belief that she was legally married to the testator. The records do not
sustain that she acted in good faith for 22 years in the belief that she was legally
married to the testator, since the last will and testament itself expressly admits
indubitably on its face the meretricious relationship between the testator and petitioner,
the devisee.
Moreover, the prohibition in Article 739 of the Civil Code is against the making of
a donation between persons who are living in adultery or concubinage. It is the donation
which becomes void. The giver cannot give even assuming that the recipient may
receive. The very wordings of the will invalidate the legacy because the testator
admitted he was disposing the properties to a person with whom he had been living in
concubinage.
