This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2012-08-29 |
PEREZ, J. |
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| The appellate court is correct in stating that there was no settlement of the estate of Abundio. There is no showing that Lot 224 has already been partitioned despite the demise of Abundio. It has been held that an heir's right of ownership over the properties of the decedent is merely inchoate as long as the estate has not been fully settled and partitioned. This means that the impending heir has yet no absolute dominion over any specific property in the decedent's estate that could be specifically levied upon and sold at public auction. Any encumbrance of attachment over the heir's interests in the estate, therefore, remains a mere probability, and cannot summarily be satisfied without the final distribution of the properties in the estate.[27] Therefore, the public auction sale of the property covered by Tax Declaration No. 1107 is void because the subject property is still covered by the Estate of Abundio, which up to now, remains unpartitioned. Arles was not proven to be the owner of the lot under Tax Declaration No. 1107. It may not be amiss to state that a tax declaration by itself is not sufficient to prove ownership.[28] | |||||