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Bellis Vs Bellis

This case involves a will executed by Amos G. Bellis in the Philippines. Bellis was a citizen and resident of Texas at the time of his death. Two of Bellis's illegitimate children filed oppositions to the partition of Bellis's estate, arguing they were deprived of their legitimes as compulsory heirs. The court held that under Article 16 of the Civil Code, the national law of the deceased must apply in executing the will. As Texas law does not provide legitimes for illegitimate children, the children were not entitled to a legitime share. The renvoi doctrine did not apply because Bellis was both a national and domiciliary of Texas at the time of his death.

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613 views

Bellis Vs Bellis

This case involves a will executed by Amos G. Bellis in the Philippines. Bellis was a citizen and resident of Texas at the time of his death. Two of Bellis's illegitimate children filed oppositions to the partition of Bellis's estate, arguing they were deprived of their legitimes as compulsory heirs. The court held that under Article 16 of the Civil Code, the national law of the deceased must apply in executing the will. As Texas law does not provide legitimes for illegitimate children, the children were not entitled to a legitime share. The renvoi doctrine did not apply because Bellis was both a national and domiciliary of Texas at the time of his death.

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Araveug Innavoig
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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(26) BELLIS vs.

BELLIS
G.R. No. L-23678 June 6, 1967
Viewpoint of place or country
FACTS:
AMOS G. BELLIS was a citizen and resident of Texas at the time of his death. He executed a will in
the Philippines, in which he directed that after all taxes, obligations, and expenses of administration are paid
for, his distributable estate should be divided, in trust, in the following order and manner

a) $240,000.00 to his first wife MARY E. MALLEN

b) $120,000.00 to his three illegitimate childrenAMOS BELLIS, JR., MARIA CRISTINA
BELLIS, MIRIAM PALMA BELLIS,or $40,000.00 each, and

c) After foregoing the two items have been satisfied, the remainder shall go to his seven
surviving children by his first and second wives EDWARD A. BELLIS, HENRY A. BELLIS, ALEXANDER BELLIS, and
ANNA BELLIS-ALLSMAN, EDWARD G. BELLIS, WA LTER S. BELLIS, and DOROTHY E. BELLIS in equal shares.

MARIA CRISTINA BELLIS and MIRIAM PALMA BELLIS filed their respective oppositions to the project
of partition on the ground that they were deprived of their legitimes as illegitimate children and, therefore,
compulsory heirs of the deceased.

The LOWER COURT issued an order overruling the oppositions and approving the executors final
account, report and administration, and project of partition. Relying upon Article 16 of the Civil Code, it
applied the national law of the decedent, which in this case is which did not provide for legitimes

ISSUE:
Which law must apply in executing the will of the deceased Texas Law or Philippine Law?

HELD:
The said illegitimate children are not entitled to their legitimes under the Texas Law(which is the
national law of the deceased), here are no legitimes. The renvoi doctrinecannot be applied. Said doctrine is
usually pertinent where the decedent is a national of one country ad a domiciliary of another. In the said
case, it is not disputed that the deceased was both a national of Texas and a domicile thereof at the time of
his death.

Article 16, Paragraph 2 of Civil code render applicable the national law of the decedent, in intestate
and testamentary successions, with regard to four items: (a) the order of succession, (b) the amount of
successional rights, (c) the intrinsic validity of provisions of will, and (d) the capacity to succeed.

They provide that

ART.16 Real property as well as personal property is subject to the law of the country to where it is
situated.However, intestate and testamentary successions, both with respect to the order of successions and
to the amount of successional rights and to the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, shall be
regulated by the national law of the person whose succession is under consideration, whatever may be the
nature of the property and regardless of the country wherein said property may be found.

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