Short answer. Yes. A notarial will may be signed by having the testator's name written by another person — but only in the testator's presence and by his express direction. What goes on the will is the testator's name, not the other person's, and that person must also sign every page.
What the law says
must be subscribed at the end thereof by the testator himself or by the testator's name written by some other person in his presence, and by his express direction
Civil Code, Article 805 — Formalities of a Notarial Will. Read the full provision →
What is written is the testator's name
This is the detail that most often goes wrong. The article does not permit an agent to sign in their own name on the testator's behalf. It permits the testator's name written by some other person. The signature appearing at the end of the will is the testator's name, formed by another hand. The person who wrote it is not signing as a party; they are acting as the physical means by which the testator's own name is placed on the document.
Two conditions, both of them strict
The name must be written in his presence and by his express direction. Presence means the testator is there while it happens, not that he approved it beforehand or ratified it afterwards. Express direction means an actual instruction to do it, not an inference from the circumstances or a helpful assumption by a relative. Take either condition away and the article's permission does not apply, however genuine the testator's wishes may have been.
The writer signs the pages too
The article then names that person again for the marginal signatures: The testator or the person requested by him to write his name and the instrumental witnesses of the will, shall also sign, as aforesaid, each and every page thereof, except the last, on the left margin. So the person who wrote the testator's name at the end takes on the page-by-page signing as well. A will where the name was written by another but the margins were left blank has not met this requirement.
None of this replaces the witnesses
Signing by another hand is a substitute for the testator's own signature and nothing more. The will still has to be attested and subscribed by three or more credible witnesses in the presence of the testator and of one another, and the attestation still has to recite that the testator caused some other person to write his name under his express direction. The person who wrote the name and the instrumental witnesses are doing different jobs in the same document.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- In the matter of the petition for the probate of the will of Consuelo, G.R. No. 204793, June 8, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Margie Santos Mitra vs. Perpetua L. Sablan-Guevarra, et al, G.R. No. 213994, April 18, 2018 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Felix Azuela vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 122880, April 12, 2006 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Heirs of Fedelina Sestoso Estella represented by Virgilia Estella Poliquit, et al. vs. Jesus, G.R. No. 245469, December 9, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →