217 UY V ESTATE OF FERNANDEZ

G.R. NO. 200612, APRIL 5, 2017 DEATH

FACTS: Vipa Fernandez (Vipa) who is married to Levi

owns a parcel of land in Iloilo City, which was rented
by Uy. In 1994, Vipa died. In June 1998, Uy stopped
paying rents. So in 2003, the Estate of Vipa, through
Vipa’s child, Grace Joy as de facto administratrix,
filed a complaint. for unlawful detainer with MTCC-
Iloilo. Uy claimed that he consigned the payment
with RTC-Iloilo because he did not know who to give
it to. MTCC ordered Uy to pay because it found that
from 1994 until 1998, Rafael was paying the rent to
Grace; that the consignations made are not valid
since there was no prior tender of payment. RTC
reversed the MTCC ruling finding that after Vipa's
death, Levi became entitled to 1/2 of the property
since their conjugal partnership was terminated,
and that he sold his share in this property to Uy
which made Uy a co-owner, having the right to
possess it. CA reversed the RTC holding that Uy
raised the issue of ownership of the subject
property for the first time in his appeal and agreed
with the MTCC that Uy's consignation is ineffective.

ISSUE: WON Levi may validly sell his share—YES

RATIO: Under the regime of CPG, the spouses are

co-owners. Thus, upon the termination of the CPG
due to the death of either spouse, the surviving
spouse has an actual and vested 1/2 undivided share
of the properties, which does not consist of
determinate and segregated properties until
liquidation and partition of the conjugal
partnership. Upon Vipa's death, half of the property
was automatically reserved to Levi. The other half,
Vipa's share, was transmitted to Vipa's heirs – Grace
Joy, Jill Frances, and Levi

A co-owner could sell his undivided share; hence,

Levi had the right to freely sell his. Uy became a co-
owner of the property in 2005, when Levi sold
undivided share to Uy, giving him the right to
possess the property. Thus, Uy could no longer be
directed to vacate the subject property since he is
already a co-owner thereof. Nevertheless, Rafael is
still bound to pay reasonable rent for the use and
occupancy of the subject property from May 2003
until he bought the share.