Statute of Non-Claims vs. Statute of Limitations Santos vs. Manarang, G.R. No. L-88235, 19 March 1914
Statute of Non-Claims vs. Statute of Limitations
Santos vs. Manarang,
G.R. No. L-88235, 19 March 1914
FACTS Don Lucas de Ocampo died on November 18, 1906, possessed of certain real and personal property which, by his last will and testament, he left to his three children. The fourth clause of this will reads as follows:
"I also declare that I have contracted the debts detailed below, and it is my desire that they may be religiously paid by my wife and executors in the form and at the time agreed upon with my creditors.”
Among the debts mentioned in the list referred to are two in favor of the plaintiff, Isidro Santos; one due on April 14, 1907, for P5,000, and various other described as falling due at different dates (the dates are not given) amounting to the sum of P2,454. The will was duly probated and a committee was regularly appointed to hear and determine such claims against the estate as might be presented. This committee submitted its report to the court on June 27, 1908. On July 14, 1909, the plaintiff, Isidro Santos, presented a petition to the court asking that the committee be required to reconvene and pass upon his claims against the estate which were recognized in the will of testator. This petition was denied by the court, and on November 21, 1910, the plaintiff instituted the present proceedings against the administratrix of the estate to recover the sums mentioned in the will as due him. Relief was denied in the court below, and now appeals to this court. Whether or not the lower court erred in denying the petition of the plaintiff.
RULING No, because although the testator has acknowledged a specific debt in his will, the creditor is not relieved thereby from the duty of filing his claim in the testate or intestate proceeding, otherwise that claim will be barred.
Here, the time for presentation of claims to the committee was 6 months from July 23, 1907. This allowed until January 23, 1908 or until July 23, 1908. Plaintiff petition was not presented until July 14, 1909. The plaintiff was laboring under a mistake of law. A mistake which could be corrected if he sought to inform himself the law governing the allowance of claims against the estate of a deceased person which by due diligence, to present his claim in due time. His right have been lost through his own negligence. Ignorantia legis neminem excusat.