MONTANER V.

CA
Facts:
Petitioner Luisa Montaner (Luisa), a Roman Catholic, was married to deceased Alejandro Montaner
(Alejandro) at a Catholic Church . Private respondents Liling Disangcopan (Disangcopan) and her
daughter Almahleen, both Muslims, filed a complaint for judicial partition of properties before the
Shari’a District Court, alleging (among others) that deceased Alejandro is a Muslim and that they are
his first family. Luisa filed an Answer with a Motion to Dismiss on the grounds: 1. Shari’a has no
jurisdiction because Alejandro is a Roman Catholic; 2. Disangcopan failed to pay the correct amount
of docket fees; and 3. Complaint is barred by prescription. Shari’a Court dismissed Luisa’s motion to
dismiss. MR denied.
Issue: W/N Disangcopan’s complaint for judicial partition of properties should be dismissed by the
Shari’a Court for failure to file the correct amount of (insufficient) docket fees?
Held and Ratio:
SC upheld Shari’a Court’s dismissal. Allegation of insufficient payment of docket fees involved two
aspects: 1.Whether the Clerk of Court correctly assessed the docket fees; and 2. Whether
Disangcopan paid the correct assessment of the docket fees. Filing of the appropriate initiatory
pleading and the payment of the prescribed docket fees vest a trial court with jurisdiction over the
subject matter. If the party filing the case paid less than the correct amount for the docket fees
because that was the amount assessed by the Clerk of Court, the responsibility of making a
deficiency assessment lies with the same Clerk of Court. In such a case, the lower court concerned
will not automatically lose jurisdiction because the party filing the case cannot be penalized with the
Clerk of Court’s insufficient assessment. However, the party concerned will be required to pay the
deficiency. In this case, Luisa did not present the Clerk of Court’s assessment of the docket fees nor
did the records include this assessment, accordingly, there could be no determination whether
Disangcopan correctly paid the docket fees without the Clerk of Court’s assessment.