SICAD v.

COURT OF APPEALS (294 SCRA 183)

FACTS:

Aurora Vda. de Montinola (Donor) executed a Deed entitled “Deed of Donation

Inter Vivos” whereby she gave her grandchildren the parcel of land covered by TCT
No.T-16105. The Deed contained a provision that read “however, the donees shall not
sell or encumber the properties herein donated within 10 years after the death of the
donor”. The Deed was recorded with the Registry of Property and a new TCT was
issued in the name of the donees, which new Title the donor however kept in her
possession. Vda. de Montinola also continued to possess the property, enjoy its fruits,
pay the taxes thereon and exercised all rights of dominion over the same until she sold
the same property, ten years after the execution of the Deed of Donation, to the
spouses Sicad.

Prior to the sale to the Sicads, the donor drew up a deed of revocation of the
donation and caused the same to be annotated on the new Title (in the names of the
donee). After the sale to the Sicads, she filed a case for cancellation of the new TCT
and reinstatement of the old TCT (in her name) on the theory that the donation to her
grandchildren was one mortis causa which had to comply with the formalities of the will
and since it had not, the donation was void. The trial court ruled that the donation was
one inter vivos and dismissed the case filed by Vda. De Montinola. The latter died while
her appeal from the decision of the trial court was pending.

ISSUE:

Was the donation made by Vda.de Montinola inter vivos or mortis causa?

HELD:

In the case of Bonsato v. Court of Appeals, this Court emphasized that the
decisive characteristics of a donation mortis causa were that “the donor not only
reserved for herself all the fruits of the property allegedly conveyed, but what is even
more important, specially provided that “without the knowledge and consent of the
donor, the donated properties could not be disposed of in any way; thereby denying to
the transferees the most essential attribute of ownership, the power to dispose of the
properties.”

A donation which purports to be one inter vivos but withholds from the donee the
right to dispose of the donated property during the donor’s lifetime is in truth one mortis
causa.

In a donation mortis causa “the right of disposition is not transferred to the donee
while the donor is still alive.”

The donation in question, though denominated inter vivos, is in truth one mortis
causa; it is void because the essential requisites for its validity have not been complied
with.