**Facts**:
1. **Death and Heir**: Epifanio R. Tupas, a resident of Bacolod City, Philippines, died on August 20, 1978, leaving his widow Partenza Lucerna as his sole compulsory heir.
2. **Will and Donation**: Epifanio Tupas had executed a will dated May 18, 1976, which was admitted to probate on September 30, 1980, listing lots Nos. 837, 838, and 839 of the Sagay Cadastre as part of his assets. However, these lots were no longer part of his estate at the time of his death because he had donated them to the Tupas Foundation, Inc. on August 2, 1977.
3. **Widow’s Claim**: The widow, Partenza Lucerna, filed a lawsuit in the Court of First Instance (CFI) of Negros Occidental, Civil Case No. 16089, arguing that the donation was inofficious (exceeded the disposable portion) and prejudiced her legitime. She sought to have the donation reduced proportionally and the excess conveyed to her.
4. **Trial Court Decision**: CFI dismissed Lucerna’s complaint, justifying that the properties, being donated a year before Tupas’s death, were no longer part of his estate, and therefore not subject to collation.
5. **Appeal**: Lucerna appealed to the Supreme Court, contesting the dismissal by the CFI.
**Issues**:
1. **Whether the properties donated inter vivos by Epifanio R. Tupas are subject to collation.**
2. **Whether the donation made to the Tupas Foundation, Inc. prejudices the legitime of the widow, making it inofficious and thus, reducible.**
**Court’s Decision**:
1. **Collation of Donation**:
– **Legal Basis**: The Supreme Court held that donations inter vivos should be collated if they exceed the donor’s capacity to give, as cited under Article 771 and Article 752 of the Civil Code.
– **Court’s Analysis**: The fact that the lots were donated while Epifanio was still alive does not exempt them from collation. The Court stressed a previously established jurisprudence that any donations, whether to compulsory heirs or strangers, should be accounted for in determining whether a donation is inofficious.
– **Conclusion**: The donation made to Tupas Foundation, Inc. is subject to collation in determining the hereditary estate and legitime.
2. **Legitime and Disposable Portion**:
– **Legal Principle**: Under Articles 908, 909, and 910 of the Civil Code, determining the legitime and disposable portion involves computing the net hereditary estate, adding collated donations, and then calculating if the donation exceeds the disposable portion.
– **Court’s Instruction**: The Supreme Court outlined a methodology:
1. Determine the value of the property left at death.
2. Deduct debts and obligations.
3. Compute the net hereditary estate.
4. Add the value of the donated property.
5. Compare this against the legitime to deduce the freely disposable portion.
– **Remand**: The Supreme Court remanded the case to the trial court to execute this determination and award the excess (if any) to the widow.
**Doctrine**:
– **Doctrine Reiterated**: Any donation inter vivos that exceeds the donor’s capacity to give at the time of death is deemed inofficious and subject to collation to the donor’s estate, and therefore, reducible if it impairs the legitime of the compulsory heir.
**Class Notes**:
– **Collation Principle**: Article 771 and Article 752 of the Civil Code limit the amount a donor can give to what they could have given by will.
– **Methodology for Calculating Legitime**:
1. Value of property left at death.
2. Deductions: Obligations, debts.
3. Net hereditary estate determination.
4. Addition of donations (collation).
5. Determination of the legitime against the disposable portion.
**Historical Background**:
During the late 1970s, the law of succession in the Philippines heavily protected compulsory heirs’ rights. This case is situated in a period when comprehensive codification of civil law aimed to ensure that a decedent could not disinherit essential heirs via lifetime donations that would undermine heirship entitlements. Thus, collation principles were rigorously applied to safeguard these rights systematically and serve as precedents for related disputes in estate cases.
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