Francisca de La Cruz (Deceased) Substituted By Rosa Abrenica v. The Intermediate Appellate Court

Summary

This case involves the inheritance rights of Francisca de la Cruz, surviving spouse of Gregorio Monte, over two parcels of land in Pangasinan. After Gregorio's death, his nephews (the Montes) successfully sued to recover the properties, with the Court of Appeals recognizing Francisca as a co-heir but failing to include this in the dispositive portion. The Monte heirs then executed a fraudulent extrajudicial partition claiming to be sole heirs and sold the properties to third parties. When Francisca sued for partition of her rightful share, the Supreme Court reversed the lower courts' findings that the buyers were in good faith, noting they had constructive notice through title annotations and actual knowledge of ongoing litigation. The Court ordered partition giving Francisca her rightful share as surviving spouse under Article 1001 of the Civil Code, which entitles the surviving spouse to half the inheritance when brothers/sisters survive with the widow.