In the Matter of the Instestate Estate of Pedro Santillon,

Claro SANTILLON, petitioner-appellant, vs.

Perfecta MIRANDA, Benito MIRANDA and Rosario
CORRALES, oppositors-appellees.
G.R. No. L-19281, June 30, 1965
FACTS:

Pedro Santillon died without testament leaving his wife, Perfecta Miranda and one son, Claro.
Four years after Pedro’s death, Claro filed a petition for letters of administration which was
opposed by his mother and spouses Benito Miranda and Rosario Corrales. The court appointed
commissioners to draft a project of partition and distribution of all properties of Pedro. Claro then
filed a motion to declare share of heirs and to resolve conflicting claims of the parties invoking
Art. 892 of the New Civil Code insisting that after deducting ½ from the conjugal properties
(conjugal share of Perfecta), the remaining ½ must be divided as follows: ¼ for her and ¾ for
him. On the other hand, Perfecta claimed besides her conjugal half, she was entitled under Art.
996 of the NCC to another ½ of the remaining half. After due notice and hearing, the court held
that Perfecta is entitled to ½ share and the remaining ½ share for Claro after deducting the share
of the widow as co-owner of the conjugal properties. Hence, this appeal.

ISSUE:

The manner of division of share of the estate of an intestate decedent when the only survivors are
the spouse and one legitimate child.

RULING:

Intestate proceedings in the New Civil Code’s chapter on legal or intestate succession, the
only article applicable is Art. 996.

Our conclusion (equal shares) seems a logical inference from the circumstance that whereas
Article 834 of the Spanish Civil Code form which Art. 996 was taken, contained two paragraphs
governing two contingencies, the first, where the widow or widower survives with legitimate
children (general rule), and the second, where the widow or widower survives with only one child
(exception), Art. 996 omitted to provide for the second situation, thereby indicating the
legislator’s desire to promulgate just one general rule applicable to both situations.