After the death of Tan Chay who died intestate, Tan Sing filed a petition for the appointment of a special administrator whose purpose was to represent the estate in a pending civil case on appeal with the Court of Appeals. The court set the petition for hearing and ordered the notice to be published. After hearing, Judge Ceferino Hilario ruled that Tan Chay died intestate, that he has real and personal properties, and that he has no heirs. The trial court further ordered that Tan Chay’s properties be escheated in favor of the Municipality of Guianga, Davao. Thereafter, Emilia Divino filed a petition to set aside the judgment on the ground that Tan Chay has heirs.
ISSUE: Whether or not a probate court may escheat the estate in favor of the Republic if it determines after hearing that the decedent has no heirs.
HELD: No. The trial court never acquired jurisdiction to take cognizance of the case as an escheat case. The case filed by Tan Sing was for the sole purpose of appointing a special administrator. The case is not even for the appointment of a regular administrator which is a totally different proceeding. If another petition for the appointment of a regular administrator had been filed, it should have been incumbent on the court to follow the entire procedure in intestacy in order to determine the heirs and to distribute finally the estate among them.
