TOPIC: FORMS AND SOLEMNITIES OF WILL

CASE TITLE: MANUEL ECHAVEZ VS. DOZEN CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT CORP
CITATION: GR NO 192916 OCTOBER 11, 2010

DOCTRINE: A donation mortis causa must comply with the formalities prescribed by law for the validity
of wills, otherwise, the donation is void and would produce no effect.

QUESTION: X donated 2 parcels of land to Y through a Deed of Donation Mortis Causa which Y accepted.
Subsequently, X sold the same lots to D Corp through a Deed of Absolute Sale. When X died B, his
nephew, filed a petition for the settlement of his intestate estate. On the other hand, Y filed a petition to
approve X’s donation mortis causa in his favor and an action to annul the contracts of sale X executed in
favor of D Corp. RTC dismissed Y’s petition contending that the execution Contract of Sale in favor of D
Corp, after X had donated the lots to Y, was an equivocal act that revoked the donation. CA affirmed
RTC’s decision and held that since it was a donation mortis causa, compliance with the formalities for
the validity of wills should have been observed. It was found that the deed of donation did not contain
an attestation clause and was therefore void. Is the CA correct?

ANSWER: YES.

A donation mortis causa must comply with the formalities prescribed by law for the validity of
wills, "otherwise, the donation is void and would produce no effect."  Article 805 of the New Civil Code
provides that the attestation shall state the number of pages used upon which the will is written, and
the fact that the testator signed the will and every page thereof, or caused some other person to write
his name, under his express direction, in the presence of the instrumental witnesses, and that the latter
witnessed and signed the will and all the pages thereof in the presence of the testator and of one
another.

Although the witnesses in the present case acknowledged the execution of the Deed of Donation Mortis
Causa before the notary public, this is not the avowal the law requires from the instrumental witnesses
to the execution of a decedent’s will. An attestation must state all the details the third paragraph of
Article 805 requires. In the absence of the required avowal by the witnesses themselves, no attestation
clause can be deemed embodied in the Acknowledgement of the Deed of Donation Mortis Causa.