Validity of Oral Partition (Property Law)

LEONARDO NOTARTE, GUILLERMO NOTARTE, REGALADO NOTARTE AND HEIRS OF FELIPE NOTARTE, Petitioners, v. GODOFREDO NOTARTE, Respondent. VILLARAMA, JR., J. (G.R. No. 180614; August 29, 2012)

FACTS: X, Y, and Z are the co-owners of a real property having inherited from their parents. They orally partitioned the same.

ISSUE: Is the partition agreement valid?

RULING: Yes, the partition agreement is valid.

The validity of an oral partition is already well-settled. It is not required that the partition agreement be registered or annotated in the title to be valid. After exercising acts of ownership over their respective portions of the contested estate, they are estopped from denying the existence of an oral partition.
Regardless of whether a parol partition or agreement to partition is valid or enforceable at law, equity will in proper cases, where the parol partition has actually been consummated by the taking of possession in severalty and the exercise of ownership by the parties of their respective portions set off to each other, recognize and enforce such parol partition and the rights of the parties thereunder.

Read more on oral partitions:

Hernandez v. Andal, 78 Phil. 196 (1947)
Tan v. Lim, G.R. No. 128004, September 25, 1998, 296 SCRA 445
Notarte, et al. v. Notarte, G.R. No. 180614, August 29, 2012