Aznar vs Duncan

G.R. No. L-24365 June 30, 1966

Digested by: Ocampo, Lorenzo Angelo A.

Facts:
Edward Christensen, a citizen of California with a domicile in the Philippines, died
leaving a will. The will was admitted to probate by the CFI of Davao and it was declared
that Helen Garcia was a natural child of the deceased. The latter was also given a legacy of
3,600 pesos. The CFI approved the project of partition, wherein the properties of the estate
were divided equally between Lucy Duncan, whom the testator expressly recognized in the
will as his daughter, and Helen Garcia, who had been judicially declared as such after his
death. The order was based on the proposition that since Helen Garcia had been preterited
in the will, the institution of Lucy Duncan as heir was annulled. Hence, it is as if the
deceased died intestate, saving only legacies left in favor of certain other persons. Lucy
Duncan appealed on the sole question of whether the estate, after deducing the legacies,
should pertain to both Lucy and Helen equally or whether the inheritance of Lucy as
instituted heir should be merely reduced to the extent necessary to cover the legitime of
Helen, which is ¼ of the entire estate.

Issue:
Whether there has been preterition, resulting in the annulment of the institution of
Lucy

Held:
No, there was no preterition since the heir is given a legacy. As such, the inheritance
of Lucy should be merely reduced to cover the legitime of Helen Garcia. When a testator
leaves a forced heir a legacy worth less than the legitime and the instituted the rest of the
estate to other persons, the heir could not ask that the institution be annulled entirely, but
only to the extent that the legitime be completed. Helen became the owner of the ¼ of the
estate at the moment of death of the decedent and as such, she is entitled to the
corresponding portion.