TESTATE ESTATE OF JOSE EUGENIO RAMIREZ, MARIA LUISA
PALACIOS, Administratrix vs. MARCELLE D. VDA. DE RAMIREZ, ET AL.,
oppositors, JORGE and ROBERTO RAMIREZ, G.R. No. L-27952 February 15, 1982
“x x x.
1. The widow's legitime.
The appellant's do not question the legality of giving
Marcelle one-half of the estate in full ownership. They admit that the
testator's dispositions impaired his widow's legitime. Indeed, under Art. 900 of the Civil Code "If the
only survivor is the widow or widower, she or he shall be entitled to one-half
of the hereditary estate." And since Marcelle alone survived the
deceased, she is entitled to one-half of his estate over which he could impose
no burden, encumbrance, condition or substitution of any kind whatsoever. (Art.
904, par. 2, Civil Code.)
It is the one-third usufruct over the free portion which the
appellants question and justifiably so. It appears that the court a quo approved
the usufruct in favor of Marcelle because the testament provides for a usufruct
in her favor of one-third of the estate. The court a quo erred
for Marcelle who is entitled to one-half of the estate "en pleno
dominio" as her legitime and which is more than what she is given under
the will is not entitled to have any additional share in the estate. To give
Marcelle more than her legitime will run counter to the testator's intention
for as stated above his dispositions even impaired her legitime and tended to
favor Wanda.
X x x.”
