Dear PAO,

I am one of the heirs of my father, who owned several properties. After his death, we discovered that a Special Power of Attorney (SPA) was granted to a certain individual, authorizing said person to sell and mortgage his properties. However, upon further investigation, we found that the SPA was dated after his death. Is that SPA valid? If this SPA was used to sell and mortgage the properties of my deceased father, what steps can we take to recover those properties?

Edward

Dear Edward,

A Special Power of Attorney (SPA) is a legal document that grants an individual, called the agent, the authority to render a service or do something on behalf of another individual, called the principal, for a limited or specific purpose. Article 1919 of the New Civil Code states that the death of the principal is one of the ways to extinguish the contract of agency created through an SPA.

For a contract of agency to exist, therefore, the following requisites must concur, namely: (1) there must be consent coming from persons or entities having the juridical capacity and capacity to act to enter into such contract; (2) there must exist an object in the form of services to be undertaken by the agent in favor of the principal; and (3) there must be a cause or consideration for the agency. (Lopez v. Court of Appeals, GR 163959, Aug. 1, 2018, penned by Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin)

In your case, considering that the principal, your father, is already deceased and cannot give proper consent or authority to the agent to sell or mortgage his properties on his behalf at the time the subject SPA was purportedly executed, it may be considered a falsified document. It is not legally binding and produces no effect.

Moreover, according to Article 1422 of the New Civil Code, “[a] contract which is the direct result of a previous illegal contract, is also void and inexistent.” Hence, all transactions or contracts which are the direct result of a falsified SPA are also void and inexistent.

As heirs of the deceased, to recover any property sold or mortgaged through the falsified SPA, you may file a petition to nullify the deed of sale or deed of mortgage, as the case may be, before the appropriate regional trial court (RTC). In case of a favorable judgment, where the sale or mortgage is considered void, the property will revert to the original owner or the latter’s heirs or assigns, i.e., to you and your co-heirs.

Additionally, you may file a criminal case for falsification under Article 171 or 172 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), depending on the surrounding circumstances, against the person who executed the SPA before the Office of the Prosecutor of the city or municipality where the alleged falsification was committed.

We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice was based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.

Thank you for your continued trust and support.

Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to [email protected]