FILEMON RAMIREZ, MONICA RAMIREZ, and JOSE

EGUARAS, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
VS.
ARTEMIO BALTAZAR, ET AL., Defendants-Appellees.
G.R. No. L-25049, August 30, 1998
ANGELES, J.:

FACTS:

Victoriana Eguaras, single, mortgaged a real estate to spouses

Baltazar, defendants in this case. Upon demise of Victoriana, the
mortgagees, as creditors of the deceased, filed a petition for the intestate
proceedings of Victoriana's estate, alleging further that plaintiffs Felimon
and Monica Ramirez are heirs of the deceased. Felimon was later appointed
as adminstrator but did not qualify so that Artemio Diawan was appointed as
judicial administrator of the estate. The mortgagees then filed a foreclosure
of the property in question and succeeded, after Diawan failed to file an
answer against the petition. The foreclosure sale ensued, the property was
bought by the mortgagees themselves and the sale was confirmed by the
court. Felimon sued for the annulment of the entire foreclosure proceedings,
alleging among others the failure of the judicial administrator to protect their
interests. Defendants contended that plaintiffs have no legal capacity to sue
and hava no cause of action.

ISSUE:

Have plaintiffs the cause of action against the defendant?

HELD:

Yes. There is no question that the rights to succession are autom

atically transmitted to the heirs from the moment of the death of the
decedent. While, as a rule, the formal declaration or recognition to such
successional rights needs judicial confirmation, this Court has, under special
circumstances, protected these rights from encroachments made or attempted
before the judicial declaration.
 In Pascual vs. Pascual, it was ruled that although heirs have no legal
standing in court upon the commencement of testate or intestate
proceedings, this rule admits of an exception as "when the administrator fails
or refuses to act in which event the heirs may act in his place."