MANUEL TORRES and LUZ LOPEZ DE BUENO vs.

MARGARITA LOPEZ
G.R. No. L-24569
MALCOLM, J.:

FACTS:

Tomas Rodriguez died leaving a considerable estate. Shortly thereafter Manuel Torres,
one of the executors named in the will asked that the will of Rodriguez be allowed. Opposition
was entered by Margarita Lopez, the first cousin of the deceased on the grounds: (1) That the
testator lacked mental capacity because at the time of senile dementia and was under
guardianship; (2) that undue influence had been exercised by the persons benefited in the
document in conjunction with others who acted in their behalf; and (3) that the signature of
Tomas Rodriguez to the document was obtained through fraud and deceit. After a prolonged
trial judgment was rendered denying the legalization of the will on the ground that at the time
Tomas Rodriguez was caused to sign the supposed will, and the copies thereof there already
existed a final judgment as to his mental condition wherein he was declared physically and
mentally incapacitated to take care of himself and manage his estate shows in a clear and
conclusive manner that at the time of signing the supposed will of Tomas Rodriguez did not
possess such mental capacity as was necessary to be able him to dispose of his property by the
supposed will.

ISSUE:

Whether or not Tomas Rodriguez has testamentary capacity to consider the will valid.

RULING:

Yes. Tomas Rodriguez has testamentary capacity to constitute a will. Though there was
conflict of medical opinions on the soundness of mind of the testator. Drs. Calderon, Domingo,
Herrera claimed that testator had full understanding of the acts he was performing and that
they were witnesses in the said signing of the will.

Code of Civil procedure prescribes a requisite that the testator be of “sound mind”, a sound
mind is a disposing mind. One of the grounds of disallowing a will is if the testator is insane or
otherwise incapable of the execution. With such the Court has adopted a definition of
“Testamentary Capacity” as: The capacity to comprehend the nature of the transaction in
which the testator is engaged at the time, to recollect the property to be disposed of and the
persons who would naturally be supposed to have claims upon the testator, and to
comprehend the manner in which the instrument will distribute his property among the
objects of his bounty .The presumption is that every adult is sane. It is only when those seeking
to overthrow the will have clearly established the charge of mental incapacity that the courts
will intervene to set aside a testamentary document.