Bond requirement in relation to the execution of an extra-judicial settlement of estate
Credit to Author: PERSIDA ACOSTA| Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2019 16:30:55 +0000
Dear PAO,
We executed an extrajudicial settlement of my late father’s estate that included the real and personal properties he left upon his demise. The register of deeds is requiring us to post a bond in order for my late father’s properties to be transferred and registered to our names. Please advise us on this matter.
Kulet
Dear Kulet,
Please be informed of Section 1, Rule 74 of the Rules Court, which reads:
“Section 1. Extrajudicial settlement by agreement between heirs. — If the decedent left no will and no debts and the heirs are all of age, or the minors are represented by their judicial or legal representatives duly authorized for the purpose, the parties may without securing letters of administration, divide the estate among themselves as they see fit by means of a public instrument filed in the office of the register of deeds, and should they disagree, they may do so in an ordinary action of partition. If there is only one heir, he may adjudicate to himself the entire estate by means of an affidavit filed in the office of the register of deeds. The parties to an extrajudicial settlement, whether by public instrument or by stipulation in a pending action for partition, or the sole heir who adjudicates the entire estate to himself by means of an affidavit shall file, simultaneously with and as a condition precedent to the filing of the public instrument, or stipulation in the action for partition, or of the affidavit in the office of the re gister of deeds, a bond with the said register of deeds, in an amount equivalent to the value of the personal property involved as certified to under oath by the parties concerned and conditioned upon the payment of any just claim that may be filed under section 4 of this rule. It shall be presumed that the decedent left no debts if no creditor files a petition for letters of administration within two years after the death of the decedent.” (Emphasis and underscoring supplied)
Clearly, a bond is required to be posted by the parties in an extrajudicial settlement, especially when personal properties are involved as the bond is equivalent to the value of said personal properties. In your situation, considering that the extrajudicial settlement you and your family executed contained personal properties left by your late father, a bond is therefore required to be posted with the register of deeds, which is equivalent to the value of said personal properties.
We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice is based solely on the facts you have narrated and our narration of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.
Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to dearpao@manilatimes.net