Herodotus Acebedo vs Bernardo Abesamis

Herodotus Acebedo and 7 others were left an estate consisting of real properties in Quezon City and
Caloocan City. Acebedo became the administrator pending partition. In the meantime, the property is
owned in common by the heirs.
The case pended for 16 years with the court. Miguel Acebedo et al (respondents) then filed a Motion for
Approval of Sale for them to sell their shares from the estate. The court approved the motion. Respondents
were able to find a buyer in the person of Yu Hwa Ping who agreed to buy the properties for P12 Million.
He paid P6 million as earnest money.
Acebedo assailed the approval of the sale claiming that the price is quite low. The court ordered Miguel et
al to find a higher bidder within a specified time frame which was later extended to 7 months but still no
other buyer could provide better terms.
Finally, it was agreed by the parties that respondents sell their share to the price already agreed upon with
Ping and that Acebedo can negotiate his price with Ping. But Acebedo still filed a Supplemental Opposition
against the approval of the conditional sale.
The court affirmed the approval of the sale and ordered Acebedo to sell his share at the same rate that the
other heirs sold their share to Ping.
ISSUE: Whether or not the other heirs can sell their shares of the estate prior to adjudication.
HELD: Yes. An heir can sell his share without final adjudication. An heir is a co-owner of the property
(estate) before adjudication.
Although the Rules of Court do not specifically state that the sale of an immovable property belonging to
an estate of a decedent, in a special proceeding, should be made with the approval of the court, this
authority is necessarily included in its capacity as a probate court. Therefore, it is clear that the probate
court in the case at bar, acted within its jurisdiction in issuing the Order approving the Deed of Conditional
Sale.
The right of an heir to dispose of the decedent’s property, even if the same is under administration, is based
on the Civil Code provision stating that the possession of hereditary property is deemed transmitted to the
heir without interruption and from the moment of the death of the decedent, in case the inheritance is
accepted. Where there are however, two or more heirs, the whole estate of the decedent is, before its
partition, owned in common by such heirs.