In the matter of the will of Donata Manahan. TIBURCIA
MANAHAN, petitioner-appellee, vs. ENGRACIA MANAHAN, opponent-appellant.
J. Fernando Rodrigo, for appellant.
Heraclio H. del Pilar, for appellee.
SYLLABUS
1. WILL; PROBATE OF WILL. — The appellant was not entitled to
notification of the order admitting the will to probate, inasmuch as she was not an interested party, not having filed an opposition to the petition for the probate thereof. Her allegation that she had the status of an heir, being the decedent's sister, did not confer upon her the right to be notified in view of the fact that the testatrix died leaving a will in which the appellant has not been instituted heir. Furthermore, not being a forced heir, she did not acquire any successional right. 2. ID.; ID.; AUTHENTICATION AND PROBATE. — In the phraseology of the procedural law there is no essential difference between the authentication of a will and the probate thereof. The words authentication and probate are synomymous in this case. All the law requires is that the competent court declare that in the execution of the will the essential external formalities have been complied with and that, in view thereof, the document, as a will, is valid and effective in the eyes of the law. 3. ID.; ID.; CONCLUSIVE CHARACTER OF THE DECREE OF PROBATE. — The decree admitting a will to probate is conclusive with respect to the due execution thereof and it cannot be impugned on any of the grounds authorized by law, except that of a fraud, in any separate or independent action or proceeding. 4. ID.; ID.; PROCEEDINGS "IN REM". — The proceedings followed in a testamentary case being in rem, the decree admitting the will to probate was effective and conclusive against the appellant, in accordance with section 306 of the Code of Civil Procedure. 5. ID.; ID.; INTERLOCUTORY ORDER. — The appellant could not appeal from the trial court's order denying her motion for reconsideration and a new trial in view of the fact that said order was interlocutory in character.
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