estate of Estate of Ramirez v. Ramirez, et al.

The court distributed the estate by: to his widow and to the grandsons
GR No. L-27962, February 15, 1982 but the usufruct of the second half shall go to Wanda.

FACTS:

Jose Eugenio Ramirez died leaving as principal beneficiaries his widow,

MarcelleSemoron de Ramirez, a French woman; his two
grandnephewsRoberto and Jorge Ramirez; and his companion Wanda de
Wrobleski. His will was admitted to probate by the Court of First Instance.
According to the will shall go to Marcelle in full ownership plus usufruct of
the 1/3 of the whole estate; the grandsons shall have the of the whole
estate; and a usufruct in favour of Wanda.

ISSUE:

Is the partition according to the will valid?

RULING:

No. As to the usufruct granted to Marcelle, the court ruled that to give
Marcelle more than her legitime will run counter to the testators intention for
his dispositions even impaired her legitime and tended to favor Wanda.As to
the usufruct in favour of Wanda, the Court upheld its validity.
The Constitutional provision which enables aliens to acquire private lands
does not extend to testamentary succession for otherwise the prohibition will
be for naught and meaningless. Any alien would be able to circumvent
the prohibition by paying money to a Philippine landowner in exchange for
devise of a piece of land. Notwithstanding this, the Court upholds the usufruct
in favour of Wanda because a usufruct does not vest title to the land in the
usufructuary and it is the vesting of title to aliens which is proscribed by the
Constitution.