ORTEGA VS.

VALMONTE

FACTS:
Placido Valmonte worked and lived in the US unti he decided to retire in the Philippines.
At 80 years old, he married Josefina Valmonte who was 28 years old.
Placido executed a will, leaving all of his possessions to his wife Josefina. Placido died and
Josefina tried to probate the will
However, his sister, Leticia opposed the probation of his will, arguing among others, that
the execution of the will was attended by fraud and Placido, at the time of execution of his
will, was not of sound mind.
Letiticia alleges that Josefina conspired with the notary public and the three attesting
witnesses in deceiving Placido to sign it. According to her, it was "highly dubious for a
woman at the prime of her young life [to] almost immediately plunge into marriage with a
man who [was] thrice her age . . . and who happened to be [a] Fil-American pensionado."
(Translation: gold-digger daw si Josefina).
She also alleges that she knew Placido was no longer of sound mind because in 1983
Placido lived in the Makati residence and asked Leticia's family to live with him and they
took care of him. During that time, the testator's physical and mental condition showed
deterioration, aberrations and senility.”

ISSUE: Whether Placido was mentally capacitated (i.e. that he is of sound mind) when his
will was executed. (YES. The will is valid.)

RULING:
According to Art. 799, the three things that the testator must have the ability to know to
be considered of sound mind are as follows: (1) the nature of the estate to be disposed of,
(2) the proper objects of the testator's bounty, and (3) the character of the testamentary
act. Applying this test to the present case, Placido had testamentary capacity at the time
of the execution of his will.

Furthermore, it must be noted that despite his advanced age, he was still able to identify
accurately the kinds of property he owned, the extent of his shares in them and even their
locations. As regards the proper objects of his bounty, it was sufficient that he identified
his wife as sole beneficiary. As we have stated earlier, the omission of some relatives from
the will did not affect its formal validity. There being no showing of fraud in its execution,
intent in its disposition becomes irrelevant.