Ventura v. Ventura

Summary

This case involves the annulment of institution of heirs in the probated will of Gregorio Ventura due to preterition of his legitimate daughters Mercedes and Gregoria Ventura. The daughters had been declared legitimate children in separate civil cases (Nos. 1064 and 1476) through a decision dated November 4, 1959. Mercedes filed a motion to annul the will's institution of heirs under Article 854 of the Civil Code, which provides that preterition of compulsory heirs annuls the institution of heir. The trial court granted the motion, finding preterition established. The Supreme Court dismissed the executrix's appeal as moot and academic, since the legitimacy declaration became final when the partition ordered in the civil cases was completed and approved on October 22, 1968 without appeal. The case establishes that once legitimacy of omitted children is finally determined, annulment of the institution of heirs follows automatically under the preterition doctrine.