Kilario v. CA
G.R. No. 134329. January 19, 2000
Respondent Silverio Pada filed an ejectment case against sps. Kilario. The latter
occupies a portion of the intestate estate of Jacinto Pada, Grandfather of Silverio. The
Kilario’s have been living therein since 1960 by sheer tolerance. When Jacinto Pada
dies, his heirs entered into extrajudicial partition of his estate in 1951. As a result
thereof, lot 5581 was allocated to Ananias and Marciano who became co-owners of said
lot.
Ananias died and his daughter succeeded in his right as co-owner. Eventually,
Juanita sold her right in the co-ownership to Engr. Paderes. Mariaon the other hand,
heir of Marciano, sold her share to her cousin respondent Silverio Pada. The latter
demanded sps. Kilario to vacate but the sps. refused.On June 1995, a complaint for
ejectment was filed against sps. Kilario. On July1995 a deed of donation in their favor
was executed by heirs of Amador Pada.
ISSUE: Whether or not the partition was valid
The extrajudicial partition of the estate of Jacinto Pada among his heirs made in
1951 is valid, albeit executed in an unregistered private document. No law requires
partition among heirs to be in writing and be registered in order to be valid. The object of registration is to serve as constructive notice to others. It follows then that the intrinsic validity of partition not executed with the prescribed formalities is not undermined when no creditors are involved. Without creditors to take into consideration, it is competent for the heirs of an estate to enter into an agreement for distribution thereof in a manner and upon a plan different from those provided by the rules from which, in the first place, nothing can be inferred that a writing or other formality is essential for the partition to be valid. The partition of inherited property need not be embodied in a public document so as to be effective as regards the heirs that participated therein. The extrajudicial partition which the heirs of Jacinto Pada executed voluntarily and spontaneously in 1951 has produced a legal status. When they discussed and agreed on the division of the estate of Jacinto Pada, it is presumed that they did so in furtherance of their mutual interests. As such, their division is conclusive, unless and until it is shown that there were debts existing against the estate which had not been paid. No showing, however, has been made of any unpaid charges against the estate of Jacinto Pada. Thus, there is no reason why the heirs should not be bound by their voluntary acts.
The belated act of Concordia, Esperanza and Angelito, who are the heirs of
Amador Pada, of donating the subject property to petitioners after forty four (44) years
of never having disputed the validity of the 1951 extrajudicial partition that allocated the subject property to Marciano and Ananias, produced no legal effect. The donation made by his heirs to petitioners of the subject property, thus, is void for they were not the owners thereof. At any rate it is too late in the day for the heirs of Amador Pada to
repudiate the legal effects of the 1951 extrajudicial partition as prescription and laches have equally set in.Petitioners are estopped from impugning the extrajudicial partition executed by the heirs of Jacinto Pada after explicitly admitting in their Answer that they had been occupying the subject property since 1960 without ever paying any rental as they only relied on the liberality and tolerance of the Pada family. Their admissions are evidence of a high order and bind them insofar as the character of their possession of the subject property is concerned.
