Short answer. Yes. Civil Code Article 839 allows a will to be disallowed if the testator's signature was procured by fraud, or if the testator did not intend that what he signed should be his will. Both grounds apply when someone is tricked into signing without knowing what the document is.
What the law says
(5) If the signature of the testator was procured by fraud; (6) If the testator acted by mistake or did not intend that the instrument he signed should be his will at the time of affixing his signature thereto.
Civil Code, Article 839 — Grounds to Disallow a Will. Read the full provision →
Two grounds that directly apply
Article 839 lists six grounds for disallowing a will. Two apply squarely to the situation you are describing. Ground 5 covers a will whose testator's signature was procured by fraud. Ground 6 covers a will where the testator did not intend that the instrument he signed should be his will at the time he signed it. When a person is tricked into signing a document presented to them as something else entirely — a power of attorney, a sale agreement, or any other document — they did not intend to sign a will, and their signature may have been obtained through deception. Both grounds can be argued.
The full list of grounds in Article 839
The other grounds for disallowing a will under Article 839 include failure to comply with formalities, the testator's insanity or mental incapacity at the time of execution, force or duress, the influence of fear or threats, and undue or improper pressure from a beneficiary or another person. These are presented here for completeness, not because they all apply to your situation. Any one ground, if proven, is sufficient to have the will disallowed in court. The fraud-on-signature and mistake-about-nature grounds described above are the most directly relevant to a case where the testator did not know what they were signing.
What you need to prove
Disallowing a will is not automatic — it requires filing a petition for probate and raising the objection before the court during the probate proceedings, or filing a petition to annul the probate if it has already been granted. The person challenging the will must establish that the testator's signature was obtained through fraud, or that the testator did not intend the document to be a will. This typically requires evidence of the circumstances surrounding the signing — who was present, what the testator was told, what documents were shown, and what the testator's state of mind was. Witness testimony, medical records, and documentation of the deception all become relevant.
Act quickly once you discover the problem
Challenges to a will must be raised in the proper proceeding. In the Philippines, a will must go through probate — a court process that authenticates it — before it can be given effect. The proper time to raise the grounds in Article 839 is during probate, before the court allows the will. Delays can complicate the challenge if the estate has already been distributed or if rights have vested based on the will. If you believe your father signed a will without knowing it was a will, speaking with a lawyer as soon as possible to assess the evidence and the appropriate next step is the right course of action.
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.
- Leticia Valmonte Ortega vs. Josefina C. Valmonte, G.R. No. 157451, December 16, 2005 — read the decision on LawPhil →