IN RE: PROBATE OF WILL OF JOSE RIOSA

GR L-14074 November 7, 1918

FACTS: Jose Riosa made a will in January 1908, disposing of his entire estate. The will
was executed according to the law in force at that time, complying with all the requisites
then required. He died on April 17, 1917. However, between the execution of the will
and his death, the law on formalities on the execution of wills was amended by Act No.
2645 (July 1, 1916; it added formalities required such as signatures on each page of the
will). The new law, therefore, went into effect after the making of the will and before the
death of the testator, without the testator ha s left a will that conforms to the new
requirements.

ISSUE: WN the will executed by Jose Riosa is valid

RULING: YES. The validity of the execution of a will must be tested by the statutes in
force at the time of its execution and statutes subsequently enacted have no
retrospective effect.
All statutes are to be construed as having only a prospective operation unless the
purpose and intention of the Legislature to give them a retrospective effect is expressly
declared or is necessarily implied from the language used. In every case of doubt, the
doubt must be resolved against the retrospective effect.
1. The language of Act No. 2645 does not indicate a retrospective effect. Such, likewise,
has been the uniform tendency of the SC on cases having special application to
testamentary succession.
2. Our statute announces a positive rule for the transference of property which must be
complied with as a completed act at the time of the execution, so far as the act of the
testator is concerned, as to all testaments made subsequent to the enactment of Act No.
2645, but is not effective as to testaments made antecedent to that date.

Further, the court contemplated the three views to address the issue:

1. The validity of wills is tested by the laws in force at the time of death of the testator. This
view was rejected by the court.

“The act of bequeathing or devising is something more than inchoate or

 ambulatory. In reality, it becomes a completed act when the will is executed and
attested according to the law, although it does not take effect on the property
until a future time.”

2. The validity of wills must be tested by statutes in force at the time of execution. This view
is the one adopted by the Supreme Court.

3. Statutes relating to the execution of wills, when they increase the necessary formalities,
should be construed so as not to impair the validity of a will already made and, when
they lessen the formalities required, should be construed so as to aid wills defectively
executed according to the law in force at the time of their making. The court did not
directly

4.