Why a foreign will stops at the border
A will admitted to probate in Hawaii or Pennsylvania is valid where it was made. It is not authority for a Philippine Register of Deeds to cancel a title. In re Akana (G.R. No. 269883, May 13, 2024, Second Division) quotes Article 838 of the Civil Code:
Art. 838. No will shall pass either real or personal property unless it is proved and allowed in accordance with the Rules of Court.
So a second proceeding runs here first. Where the will was already allowed abroad, that proceeding is reprobate, governed by Rule 77.
Rule 77, in full
Four short sections carry the whole procedure.
Sec. 1. Will proved outside Philippines may be allowed here. — Wills proved and allowed in a foreign country, according to the laws of such country, may be allowed, filed, and recorded by the proper Court of First Instance in the Philippines.
Sec. 2. Notice of hearing for allowance. — When a copy of such will and of the order or decree of the allowance thereof, both duly authenticated, are filed with a petition for allowance in the Philippines, by the executor or other person interested, in the court having jurisdiction, such court shall fix a time and place for the hearing, and cause notice thereof to be given as in case of an original will presented for allowance.
Sec. 3. When will allowed, and effect thereof. — If it appears at the hearing that the will should be allowed in the Philippines, the court shall so allow it, and a certificate of its allowance, signed by the judge, and attested by the seal of the court, to which shall be attached a copy of the will, shall be filed and recorded by the clerk, and the will shall have the same effect as if originally proved and allowed in such court.
Sec. 4. Estate, how administered. — When a will is thus allowed, the court shall grant letters testamentary, or letters of administration with the will annexed, and such letters testamentary or of administration, shall extend to all the estate of the testator in the Philippines. Such estate, after the payment of just debts and expenses of administration, shall be disposed of according to such will, so far as such will may operate upon it; and the residue, if any, shall be disposed of as is provided by law in cases of estates in the Philippines belonging to persons who are inhabitants of another state or country.
Section 2 lists the paperwork: an authenticated copy of the will and of the foreign order allowing it. Section 4 fixes what the letters reach.
Which court, and it is not the small one
In Akana an American citizen died in Honolulu leaving one Cebu City lot declared at ₱896,000.00. The first-level court sent her daughter to the RTC; the RTC dismissed too, holding that the raised jurisdictional threshold put so small an estate below it. The Supreme Court set both orders aside:
Hence, B.P. Blg. 129 and the subsequent amendments thereto did not modify Rule 77, Section 1 of the Rules of Court and jurisdiction over reprobate proceedings remain with the RTC.
If a clerk tells you a modest estate belongs in the first-level court, that is the answer.
The five things a reprobate must prove
Akana restates the checklist from Vda. de Perez v. Tolete:
In Vda. de Perez v. Hon. Tolete, this Court explained that the evidence required to be presented for the reprobate of wills are: (1) the due execution of the will in accordance with the foreign laws; (2) the testator has his domicile in the foreign country and not in the Philippines; (3) the will has been admitted to probate in such country; (4) the fact that the foreign tribunal is a probate court, and (5) the laws of a foreign country on procedure and allowance of wills.
Items (1) and (5) require the foreign law itself to be put in evidence; Philippine courts take no judicial notice of it, and the cost of assuming otherwise is set out at whose law decides who inherits. Note what is absent: the estate's value.
If the will was never probated abroad
Many families never open a foreign estate; only the Philippine land is left. Akana takes from Palaganas v. Palaganas the distinction between reprobate of a will already allowed abroad and probate where a will "is presented for the first time before a competent court." On the research we rely on, an unprobated foreign will may be brought here for probate in the first instance — the contrary stance being impractical for heirs who cannot travel.
What the Philippine court will not re-open
In Cayetano v. Leonidas (G.R. No. L-54919, May 30, 1984, First Division), the father of a decedent who died an American citizen resisted reprobate of her Pennsylvania will. The Court answered in two lines:
In the case at bar, the petitioner maintains that since the respondent judge allowed the reprobate of Adoracion's will, Hermogenes C. Campos was divested of his legitime which was reserved by the law for him.
This contention is without merit.
The reason: Articles 16 and 1039 of the Civil Code refer the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions to the decedent's national law. More at forced heirship and legitimes.
Wills executed abroad, and foreigners' wills executed here
Three Civil Code articles decide whether the instrument is formally good:
Art. 815. When a Filipino is in a foreign country, he is authorized to make a will in any of the forms established by the law of the country in which he may be. Such will may be probated in the Philippines.
Art. 816. The will of an alien who is abroad produces effect in the Philippines if made with the formalities prescribed by the law of the place in which he resides, or according to the formalities observed in his country, or in conformity with those which this Code prescribes.
Art. 817. A will made in the Philippines by a citizen or subject of another country, which is executed in accordance with the law of the country of which he is a citizen or subject, and which might be proved and allowed by the law of his own country, shall have the same effect as if executed according to the laws of the Philippines.
Send us the will, the foreign order and the death certificate, and we will tell you which route your file is on. Then see settlement step by step or coordinating heirs abroad.
Frequently asked questions
Does a will already probated in another country still need a Philippine case?
Yes. Article 838 of the Civil Code, quoted by the Supreme Court in the Akana case in 2024, provides that no will shall pass either real or personal property unless it is proved and allowed in accordance with the Rules of Court. The foreign probate is proved as a fact in the Philippine proceeding. It does not replace it.
Which Philippine court hears a reprobate petition?
The Regional Trial Court, whatever the estate is worth. In In re Akana, decided May 13, 2024, the Supreme Court held that jurisdiction over reprobate proceedings remains with the RTC and that B.P. Blg. 129 and the subsequent amendments to it did not modify Rule 77, Section 1. Two lower courts in that case had told the petitioner otherwise.
What if the will was never probated abroad at all?
Then it is not a reprobate case. The Supreme Court in Palaganas v. Palaganas, quoted in Akana, distinguished reprobate of a will already probated and allowed in a foreign country from probate where the will is presented for the first time before a competent court. The Court also observed that requiring heirs who lack the means to go abroad to probate there first would be as good as depriving them outright of their inheritance.
Can a Philippine compulsory heir claim a legitime against a foreign will?
In Cayetano v. Leonidas the father of an American decedent argued that allowing her Pennsylvania will divested him of the legitime reserved by law for him. The Supreme Court answered that the contention is without merit, because Articles 16 and 1039 of the Civil Code refer the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions to the national law of the decedent. Whether that reasoning reaches your situation depends on the decedent's citizenship, which is the first thing we check.