Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Forms of Wills
Forms of Wills
Forms of Wills
Art. 804. Every will must be in writing and executed in a language or dialect known
to the testator.
The provisions of Art. 804 are mandatory and applies to both notarial and
holographic will. Failure to comply with the requirements nullifies the will.
In Lopez vs. Liboro the court held: There is no statutory requirement that
such knowledge (of language used in the will) be expressly stated in the will
itself.
Extrinsic evidence can be used to prove the testator knew the language used
in the will. In order for presumptions to apply, the following must appear:
1. the will must be in a language or dialect generally spoken in the
place of execution;
and
2. the testator must be a native or resident of said locality
Art. 805. Every will, other than a holographic will, must be subscribed at the end
thereof by the testator himself or by the testators name written by some other
person in his presence, and by his express direction, and attested and subscribed by
three or more credible witnesses in the presence of the testator and of one another.
The testator or the person requested by him to write his name and the
instrumental witnesses of the will, shall also sign, as aforesaid, each and every page
thereof, except the last, on the left margin, and all the pages shall be numbered
correlatively in letters placed on the upper part of each page.
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.
If the attestation clause is in a language not known to the witnesses, it shall
be interpreted to them.
Art. 806. Every will must be acknowledged before a notary public by the testator
and the witnesses. The notary public shall not be required to retain a copy of the
will, or file another with the office of the Clerk of Court.
Special Formalities for attested/notarial wills:
(1) Subscribed by the testator or his agent in his presence and by his
express direction at the end thereof, in the presence of the witnesses;
To subscribe denotes writing, to sign denotes simply placing a mark.
Not every signature is necessarily a subscription.
Estate of Maria Salva (1927). When, therefore the law says that the
will shall be signed by the testator or testatrix, the law is fulfilled
not only by the customary written signature but by the testator or
testatrixs thumbmark.
Garcia vs. Lacuesta as cited in Matias vs. Salud. Court denied
probate holding that a will be signed with a cross written after the