Viardo vs Belmonte, et al.Posted by she lamsen Labels: Case Digest, civil law, Civil Law Case Digest, wills and succession 

L-14122August 21, 1962

FACTS: A father was the defendant in a civil case. During its pendency, he died, and his children were substituted as defendants. If judgment is rendered against the defendants, can the children be held personally liable with their own individual properties?

HELD: No. The children cannot be held personally liable, despite the substitution. The remedy of the plaintiff, the creditor, is to proceed against the estate of the deceased father.

LITONJUA v. MONTILLAGR No.L-4170, January 31, 1952, 90PHIL75790 PHIL 757

FACTS: Pedro Litonjua obtained a judgment against Claudio Montilla for the payment of a sum of P4,039. Failing to find or identify a property of Claudio to be levied, petitioner then proceeded to file a claim in the intestate proceeding of the estate of Agustin Montilla Sr, father of the deceased. The estate has not yet been properly probated.

ISSUE: Could the petitioner succeed in collecting the debt as against the estate of the debtor's deceased parent?

HELD:  No. In the case of Ortiga Brothers and Co. vs. Enage and Yap Tico, 18 Phil. 345, it was held that the creditor of the heirs of a deceased person is entitled to collect his claim out of the property which pertains by inheritance to said heirs, only after the debts of the testate or intestate have been paid and when the net assets that are divisible among the heirs are known, because the debts of the deceased must first be paid before his heirs can inherit. It was therein also held that a person who is not a creditor of a deceased, testate or intestate, has no right to intervene either in the proceedings brought in connection with the estate or in the settlement of the succession. The foregoing pronouncements are perfectly applicable to the case at bar, because the appellant is not a creditor of the deceased Agustin Montilla, Sr. and he seeks to collect his claim out of the inheritance of Claudio Montilla, an heir, before the net assets of the intestate estate have been determined.