This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2000-03-27 |
GONZAGA-REYES, J. |
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| We cannot agree with petitioners' bare and expedient assertion that, because the title to the property was registered in the name of both Lucio and Vicenta, she should thereby be deemed owner to half of it. A certificate of title under the Torrens system is aimed to protect dominion, and should certainly not be turned into an instrument for deprivation of ownership.[18] Because a just and complete resolution of this case could only be arrived at by determining the real ownership of the contested property, evidence apart from or contrary to the certificate of title bears considerable importance.[19] This assumes peculiar force in the instant situation where the heirs of a lawful pre-existing marriage stand to be deprived. Thus, in Belcodero vs. Court of Appeals,[20] we held that property acquired by a man while living with a common-law wife during the subsistence of his marriage is conjugal property, even when the property was titled in the name of the common-law wife. In such cases, a constructive trust is deemed to have been created by operation of Article 1456 of the Civil Code over the property which lawfully pertains to the conjugal partnership of the subsisting marriage. | |||||