CIVIL LAW REVIEW 1

FINAL EXAMS
DEAN GENEVIEVE MARIE DOLORES B. PAULINO, LL.M.
December 8, 2022

Kate married William on December 1, 2010. Kate’s parents died when

she was 9 years. Being the sole surviving heir she inherited a
condominium unit, P5 million pesos and a beach resort in Boracay.
William died on July 1, 2020. Kate inherited from William a 4-door
apartment in Davao City. Kaye, the only child of Kate and William
inherited from the estate of their father, William, P1 million.

On September 1, 2021, Kate married Harry. A month before the

wedding, Kate and Harry executed a marriage settlement. In the
marriage settlement, they agreed to be governed by the regime of
conjugal partnership of gains. The marriage settlement was signed
by Kate.

a. What property regime governs the property relations of Kate

and William? Explain fully. ( 3.5 pts.)

b. What property regime governs the property relations of Kate

and Harry? Explain fully. ( 3.5 pts.)

c. If Kate decided to sell the 4-door apartment that she

received by way of inheritance from William, is the consent
of Harry indispensable for the validity of the sale? Explain
fully. ( 3.5 pts.)

d. What are the requisites of a valid marriage settlement? (2

pts.)

e. What are the essential differences between the ABSOLUTE

COMMUNITY PROPERTY and the CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP
OF GAINS? ( 3 pts.)

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 f. If the property relations of the spouses is absolute
community of property, can they shift to the conjugal
partnership of gains regime by filing a petition in court?
Explain fully. ( 3.5 pts.)

II

Lilia owned a parcel of land which is adjacent to the parcel of

land owned by Bong. The latter believing that it was still a
portion of his parcel of land, constructed a semi-concrete
structure as his recreation room. Lilia saw the construction but
did not object because she also believed that the construction
was on the parcel of land owned by Bong. However, it was
ascertained a year after the completion of the construction,
that the land on which the recreation room was built is still part
of the parcel of land of Lelia.

a) Is Bong liable to pay damages to Lilia? Explain fully.

( 3 pts.)

b) Discuss the right of Lilia under the circumstances.

Explain fully. ( 4 pts.)

c) What are the rights of Bong under the circumstances?

Explain fully. ( 4 pts.)

III

Ian is the only acknowledged natural child of Elliot Santos. His

parents Elliot Santos and Cherry Lapina were not yet married at
the time Ian was born and they died before their wedding.
Since then, Ian’s paternal grandparents (Elliot’s parents) took
care of Ian. After battling cancer for several years, his paternal
grandfather died. He did not leave a will.

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 Hence, Ian aunts and uncles ( the siblings of his father, Elliot)
prepared the extrajudicial settlement of his grandfather's
estate. They explained to Ian that under the law, Ian is not
entitled to represent his father (Elliot) in inheriting from his
grandfather's estate since Ian was a nonmarital child of his
father Elliot who is a marital child of his grandfather. Is this
correct? Support your answer with reasons. (4 pts.)

IV

Delilah and Simon were married on August 1, 2017. Their

marriage was always marked by violent fights. On August 2,
2022, Delilah filed a petition for annulment claiming that Simon
is suffering from a sexually transmissible disease (STD) which
he concealed to her. In her petition, Delilah said that during the
courtship stage, she already suspected Simon to be suffering
from an STD because she saw his medicines in his car seat.
When she visited the house of Simon, she also saw the
prescription from the doctor for STD medicines in the dining
table of the house of Simon. And a friend told her that she saw
Simon in the clinic of Dr. Wang, a known physician who
specializes in the treatment of STD.

On August 30, 2018, Delilah discovered that she had STD. So,
she angrily confronted Simon who admitted for the first time
that he is suffering from HIV.

Will the petition for annulment prosper? Explain fully. ( 4 pts.)

TRUE OR FALSE. Support your answer with reasons.

a) All void marriages are governed by either ARTICLE 147 or

148 with respect to their property relations. ( 3 pts.)

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 b) All children of void marriages are illegitimate. ( 3 pts.)

c) Necessary expenses shall be refunded only to a possessor

in good faith and to the builder in good faith. (3 pts.)

d) A building is considered immovable only if constructed by

the owner of the land on which it was erected. (3 pts.)

e) The rule that to the owner belongs the natural, industrial

and civil fruits is absolute. (2 pts.)

VI

Sharon executed a will which contained only a provision

disinheriting her daughter KC for running off with a married
man, and a provision disposing of her share in the family house
and lot in favor of her other children Frankie and Miel. She did
not make any provisions in favor of her husband Francis,
because as the will stated, he would anyway get ½ of the
house and lot as his conjugal share.

The will was very brief and straightforward and both the above
provisions were contained in page 1, which Sharon and her
instrumental witness signed at the bottom. Page 2 contained
the attestation clause and the signatures, at the bottom
thereof, of the 3 instrumental witnesses which included Aiza,
the family cook, Pempem, the driver of Vicki, and Atty.
Domingo, the lawyer who prepared the will. There was a 3rd
page, but this only contained the notarial acknowledgement.
The attestation clause stated the will was signed on the same
occasion by Sharon and her instrumental witnesses who all
signed in the presence of each other, and the notary public
who notarized the will. There are no marginal signatures or
pagination appearing on any of the 3 pages. Upon her death, it
was discovered that apart from the house and lot, Sharon had
a P10M account deposited with BDI bank.

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 a) Was Francis preterited? (2%)

b) What other defects of the will, if any, can cause denial of

probate? (4%)

c) Was the disinheritance valid? (2%)

d) How should the house and lot, and the cash be distributed?
(2%)

VII

a. Glynna, a Filipino national married Jiwoo, a Korean national.

They got married in Manila. However, the marriage ended with
a divorce by mutual agreement in South Korea. After the
divorce was confirmed on July 16, 2012 by the Cheongju Local
Court, Glynna filed before the RTC a Petition for the
Recognition of a Foreign Judgment of Divorce. The RTC
granted the petition which was however opposed by the Office
of the Solicitor General. The CA granted the opposition on the
ground that the petition could not be given due course as it
was not the foreign spouse who obtained such decree. Rule on
the matter. ( 3.5 pts.)

b. What is the doctrine embodied in the case of Tan-Andal versus

Andal. ( 3.5 pts.)

VIII

David died intestate. His full-blood sisters, Thelma and Louise,

and half-blood sisters, Katherine, Erin and Jodie, all
predeceased him. The following are the surviving relatives:
Fiona and Moira, legitimate children of Thelma; Kyla, legitimate
child of Louise; Vivi, illegitimate child of Katherine; Josie,

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 adopted child of Erin; and Otto, grandson of Jodie. The net
value of David's estate is P12M.

a) How much do Fiona, Moira and Josie stand to inherit by right

of representation? (3%)

b) How much is the share of Vivi, Josie and Otto in the net
estate? (3%)

c) Who are David’s legal heirs and how will his estate be
divided among them? (3%)

IX

A commercial and residential building project located in Wack

Wack Village, Mandaluyong City, was proposed by MALL LAND
INC.
MALL LAND INC. notified Wack Wack Residents Association,
Inc. WWRAI, a registered homeowners' association of Wack
Wack Village - of its intention to use Fordham Street as an
access road and staging area of the project.
As MALL LAND INC. received no response from WWRAI, MALL
LAND INC. temporarily enclosed the job site and set up a field
office along Fordham Street.
WWRAI, thereafter exerted effort to remove the said field
office. Subsequent attempts of WWRAI to remove the said field
office proved futile.
MALL LAND INC., filed a petition before the RTC, seeking the
following:
1) Establishment of the temporary easement over Fordham
Street belonging to WWRAI as an access road to its
construction site of its AMA Tower.

2) Establishment of a permanent easement of right of way in

its favor over a portion of Fordham Street.
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 3) Issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to
immediately enjoin [WWRAI] from demolishing and
removing the temporary field office and from constructing a
fence isolating Fordham Street, and preventing MALL LAND
INC. from gaining access to the construction site;

A) What are the requisites so that MALL LAND INC. may validly
claim against WWRAI a compulsory permanent right of way
under Articles 649 and 650 of the Civil Code? ( 4 PTS.)

B) What are the requisites that MALL LAND INC. must comply
in order to be granted a temporary easement of right of
way? ( 4 pts.)

X- ENUMERATION

A) Enumerate at least 3 rights of a usufructuary. ( 3 pts.)

B) Enumerate at least 4 grounds for the disallowance of a will. ( 2

pts.)

C) What are the exceptions to the general rule that laws shall
have no retroactive effect? Give at least 4. ( 3 pts.)

D) What marriages are void here in the Philippines even if validly

celebrated abroad? (3 pts.)

E) The action to claim legitimacy is a right that is purely personal

to the child. State all the exceptions to this rule. ( 3 pts.)