Pervert husband as heir

Allow us to share to you the follwing little legal knowledge....

Facts:

Angie and Howard are husband and wife with four legitimate daughters. Time passed bye and Howard showed his sexual perversity wherein he usually enjoyed watching pornographic videos at several internet porn sites even in the presence of their still minor children. For fear on the sexual perversion of her husband, Angie decided to left Howard and brought with her all their children. Thereafter, Angie became rich and executed a will containing only her belief that since Howard might sexually abuse her children and therefore dispose to deprive her husband absolute parental authority over them. Angie died without executing any other will.

a. Is the will valid and can be given effect?
b. How will you distribute the estate of Angie?

ANSWERS:

a. The will is not valid and therefore cannot be given effect. The only proper objects of a will are property, rights and obligations of the decedent which are not extinguished by her death. Parental authority of a person is purely personal to him and may be lost only as determined by law through a proper court proceeding. A decedent therefore has no right to deprive another of his parental authority, which is not considered part of the former’s estate.

b. Considering that the will is void in accordance with Art. 960 of the Civil Code of the Philippines, the estate of Angie shall be distributed to her husband Howard and her four children in equal shares through intestate succession.