BELLIS vs. BELLIS

G.R. No. L-23678
June 6, 1967

FACTS:

AMOS G. BELLIS was a citizen and resident of Texas at the time of his death. He executed a will in the Philippines, in which he directed that after all taxes, obligations, and expenses of administration are paid for, his distributable estate should be divided, in trust, in the following order and manner

a) $240,000.00 to his first wife MARY E. MALLEN

b) $120,000.00 to his three illegitimate childrenAMOS BELLIS, JR., MARIA CRISTINA BELLIS, MIRIAM PALMA BELLIS,or $40,000.00 each, and

c) After foregoing the two items have been satisfied, the remainder shall go to his seven surviving children by his first and second wives EDWARD A. BELLIS, HENRY A. BELLIS, ALEXANDER BELLIS, and ANNA BELLIS-ALLSMAN, EDWARD G. BELLIS, WA LTER S. BELLIS, and DOROTHY E. BELLIS in equal shares.

MARIA CRISTINA BELLIS and MIRIAM PALMA BELLIS filed their respective oppositions to the project of partition on the ground that they were deprived of their legitimes as illegitimate children and, therefore, compulsory heirs of the deceased.

The LOWER COURT issued an order overruling the oppositions and approving the executor’s final account, report and administration, and project of partition. Relying upon Article 16 of the Civil Code, it applied the national law of the decedent, which in this case is which did not provide for legitimes

ISSUE:

Which law must apply in executing the will of the deceased – Texas Law or Philippine Law?

HELD:

The said illegitimate children are not entitled to their legitimes under the Texas Law(which is the national law of the deceased), here are no legitimes. The renvoi doctrinecannot be applied. Said doctrine is usually pertinent where the decedent is a national of one country ad a domiciliary of another. In the said case, it is not disputed that the deceased was both a national of Texas and a domicile thereof at the time of his death.

Article 16, Paragraph 2 of Civil code render applicable the national law of the decedent, in intestate and testamentary successions, with regard to four items: (a) the order of succession, (b) the amount of successional rights, (c) the intrinsic validity of provisions of will, and (d) the capacity to succeed.

They provide that

ART.16 Real property as well as personal property is subject to the law of the country to where it is situated.However, intestate and testamentary successions, both with respect to the order of successions and to the amount of successional rights and to the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, shall be regulated by the national law of the person whose succession is under consideration, whatever may be the nature of the property and regardless of the country wherein said property may be found.

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