1st online assessment.

Legal rules, principles and concepts learned and/or reviewed during Week 1.

1) n the absence of special provisions, the rules provided for in ordinary actions shall be, as far as
practicable, applicable in special proceedings.

2) The Regional Trial Court shall have jurisdiction in probate proceedings if the total value of the
property of the deceased, real or personal exceeds 300,000 and in Metro Manila 400,000. If the
total value of the estate of the deceased is less than 300,000 and in Metro Manila 400,000, the
jurisdiction is vested in the Municipal Trial Court.

3) If the decedent is an inhabitant of the Philippines at the time of his death, whether a citizen or
an alien, his will shall be proved, or letters of organization granted, and his estate settled, in
Regional Trial Court in the province in which he resides at the time of his death, and he is an
inhabitant of a foreign country, the Regional Trial Court of any province in which he had estate.

4) The court first taking cognizance of the settlement of the estate of the decedent, shall exercise
jurisdiction to the exclusion of other courts.

5) Extrajudicial settlement shall not be binding upon any person who has not participated therein
or had no notice thereof.

6) The Municipal Trial Court shall have jurisdiction over the settlement of the estate of the
decedent where the value of the estate does not exceed 10,000 pesos. The court may proceed
summarily, without the appointment of an executor or administrator.

7) Filing a bond is required only in personal property.

8) If it shall appear at any time within two (2) years after the settlement of the estate, that an heir
or other person has been unduly deprived of his lawful participation in the estate, such heir or
such other person may compel the settlement of the estate in the courts for the purpose of
satisfying such lawful participation. This is not to compel the partition but for the court to fix the
amount of lawful participation in money.

9) No will shall pass either real or personal unless it is allowed and proved and allowed in the
proper court.

10) Any executor, devisee, or legatee named in a will, or any other person interested in the estate,
may, at any time after the death of the testator, petition the court having jurisdiction to have
the will allowed, whether the same be in his possession or not, or is lost or destroyed.
11) No defect in the petition shall render void the allowance of will, or the issuance of letters
testamentary or of administration with the will annexed.

12) No will shall be proved as lost or destroyed unless the execution and validity of the same be
established, and the will is proved to have been in existence at the time of the death of the
testator, or is shown to have been fraudulently or accidentally destroyed in the lifetime of the
testator without his knowledge, nor unless its provisions are clearly and distinctly proved by at
least two (2) credible witnesses.

13) Wills proved and allowed in a foreign country, according to the laws of such country, may be
allowed, filed, and recorded by the proper Regional Trial Court in the Philippines.

14) No person in competent to serve as executor or administrator who: (a) is a minor, (b) is not
resident of the Philippines; and (c) is in the opinion of the court unfit to execute the duties of
trust by reason of drunkenness, improvidence, or want of understanding or integrity, or by any
reason of conviction of an offense involving moral turpitude.

15) The executor of an executor shall not, as such, administer the estate of the first executor.

16) Any interested person or any person who stands to be benefited from the distribution of estate
as in the case of an heir or as who has the claim against the estate as in the case of creditor of
the deceased may oppose the issuance of letters testamentary and simultaneously file a petition
for administration. The interest must be material and direct and not merely indirect and
contingent.

17) The grounds for appointment of special administrator are as follows: (1) undue delay, (2)
executor or administrator has a claim against the estate of he represents.

18) The special administrator shall take the possession and charge the estate, this power includes
the right of the special administrator to sell those perishable goods and the other property as
the court orders sold.

19) The special administrator may commence and maintain a suit for the purposes of preserving the
property for the executor or administrator afterwards appointed.

20) The appointment of special administrator is interlocutory and discretionary on the part of the
Regional Trial Court and non-appealable.

21) The special administrator is not liable to pay any debts of the deceased unless ordered by the
court.
22) The court may remove an executor or administrator if he: (1) Neglects to perform an order or
judgment of the court, (2) Absconds (3) neglect to render account or settle the estate, (4)
Insane, (5) Unsuitable to discharge the trust.