Edgar San Luis v.

Felicidad San Luis

G.R. No. 133743 (February 6, 2007)

Facts:
The case involves the settlement of the estate of Felicisimo San Luis, who was
previously the governor of the Province of Laguna. During the lifetime of Felicisimo, he
was married to three women. His first marriage was with Virginia Sulit who predeceased
Felicisimo. The second marriage was with Merry Lee Corwin, an American citizen, who
later obtained a decree granting absolute divorce before the family court of Hawaii. The
third marriage was with the respondent, Felicidad Sagalongos, who he lived with for 18
years up to the time of his death.
After the death of Felicisimo, the respondent sought for the dissolution of their
conjugal assets and the settlement of the estate. A petition for administration was then
filed before the RTC of Makati City.
The children of Felicisimo from his first marriage filed a motion to dismiss on the
following grounds: (1) venue was improperly laid since the petition should be filed in
Laguna where Felicisimo was the elected governor; (2) Respondent does not have legal
capacity to sue because her marriage with Felicisimo is bigamous and the decree of
absolute decree is not binding in the Philippines.
The RTC granted the motion to dismiss. However, the Court of Appeals reversed the
decision.

Issues:
1. Whether venue was properly laid.
2. Whether the respondent has legal capacity to file the subject petition for letters of
administration

Held:
1. Yes. The venue was properly laid.

Under Section 1, Rule 73 of the Rules of Court, the petition for letters of
administration of the estate should be filed in the RTC of the province “in which he
resides at the time of his death”. In the case of Garcia Fule v. CA, we laid down the
rule that for determining venue, the residence of the decedent is determining.
Residence for settlement of estate purposes means his personal, actual or physical
habitation, or actual residence of place of abode, which may not necessarily be his
legal residence or domicile provided he resides therein with continuity and
 consistency. It is possible that a person may have his residence in one place and
domicile in another.

2. The divorce decree obtained by Merry Lee Corwin, which absolutely allowed
Felicisimo to remarry would have vested Felicidad with the legal personality to file
the present petition as the surviving spouse. However, the respondent was not able
to provide sufficient documentation to prove the decree of divorce obtained in
Hawaii.

Even assuming that Felicisimo was not capacitated to marry respondent in 1974,
nevertheless, we find that the latter has the legal personality to file the subject
petition for letters of administration as she may be considered the co-owner of
Felicisimo as regards the properties acquired during their cohabitation.
The case is therefore remanded to the RTC for further proceedings.