Dear PAO,
I have an aunt who was a successful businesswoman in her province. When she became critically ill, she entered into a lease contract with her business partner for a townhouse near the hospital, where she regularly had checkups. Eventually, my said aunt died but without being able to pay almost a year’s worth of rent on the leased townhouse. During the settlement of her estate, one of my cousins revealed that their mother had prepared a last will and testament. This came as a surprise to her other siblings, as they were not aware that their mother had prepared a last will. When my other cousins examined my aunt’s last will, they questioned the fact that the business associate of their mother was one of the witnesses in the execution of the last will. They claim that the last will of their mother is not valid since the business associate is technically a creditor of their mother for the unpaid rent. They presented the demand letters sent by the business partner to their mother for the collection of unpaid rent. The other siblings are now fighting over whether or not the last will is valid because of the involvement of the business partner-creditor as a witness. Because of this entire squabble among our relatives, we want to ask now if the said business partner of our aunt can be considered as a valid witness to the execution of a will despite her being a creditor of our aunt.
Ilia
Dear Ilia,
To answer your question, we shall refer to the New Civil Code of the Philippines, which provides for the qualifications and disqualifications of witnesses to a will.
According to Articles 820 and 821 of the said Code:
“Article 820. Any person of sound mind and of the age of eighteen years or more, and not blind, deaf or dumb, and able to read and write, may be a witness to the execution of a will mentioned in article 805 of this Code. (n)
Article 821. The following are disqualified from being witnesses to a will:
“(1) Any person not domiciled in the Philippines;
“(2) Those who have been convicted of falsification of a document, perjury or false testimony.” (Emphasis supplied)
Anyone falling under the qualifications mentioned in the cited law and without the disqualifications mentioned above is considered a competent witness in the execution of an attested will.
In relation to your question of whether a creditor, or someone to whom a testator owes a debt, can be a witness to the latter’s last will, the New Civil Code has a specific provision applicable in such a situation, to wit:
“Article 824. A mere charge on the estate of the testator for the payment of debts due at the time of the testator’s death does not prevent his creditors from being competent witnesses to his will.” (New Civil Code of the Philippines) Emphasis supplied.
Based on this provision, the mere fact that a witness to a will is a creditor of a testator does not disqualify the said witness from attesting the last will of his debtor. In other words, the business partner of your aunt is not disqualified to be a witness to her last will solely for the reason of being financially invested as a creditor on her estate. Thus, based on the details you have provided, your aunt’s last will cannot be made invalid on this ground alone, as clearly provided by the law on the qualification of a witness to a last will.
We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice is based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated on.
Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to [email protected]
