Segunda de Los Santos v. Fernando Santa Teresa

Summary

Plaintiffs sought partition of inherited land from common predecessor Gregorio Santa Teresa who died 30 years prior. Defendant had been in exclusive possession since the death, paying taxes and acting as sole owner. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's dismissal, ruling that while Article 1965 makes partition actions among coheirs imprescriptible, this applies only when property is held in common. When one coheir possesses property individually as sole owner for the prescriptive period, the action prescribes. Since defendant possessed the property exclusively for over 30 years acting as sole owner without intervention from other alleged heirs, rather than holding it in common, the 30-year prescription period barred the action despite the general rule of imprescriptibility.