1. SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS; SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE OF DECEASED PERSONS; EXPENSES OF ADMINISTRATION; PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY’S FEES RENDERED TO ADMINISTRATRIX WHERE THE ESTATE HAS BEEN DISTRIBUTED. — Where the court has adjudged the administratrix to pay from the estate the attorney’s fees rendered for the estate and the estate has been distributed to the heirs, the court may modify its decision so as to order the administratrix to secure the sums needed for the payment of said fees from the heirs, who have been declared responsible in proportion to the shares received.

The heirs of Eduardo D. Gutierrez, heirs-appellees herein, seek the reconsideration of the decision of this Court in which the administratrix was exempted from personal liability for counsel’s attorney’s fees, reserving to the heirs of the deceased counsel Eduardo D. Gutierrez the right to demand payment of the fees of their deceased predecessor from the heirs of the deceased Clodualdo Vitug. Considering that the said attorney’s fees were due because administratrix Donato Montemayor had contracted the services of said counsel and is, therefore, indirectly responsible to the heirs- appellees for the payment of the fees of the above-mentioned counsel, the decision is hereby modified to read as follows:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"For the foregoing considerations, the order appealed from is hereby modified by declaring the administratrix Donata Montemayor responsible, in her capacity as administratrix, to the heirs of the deceased Attorney Eduardo D. Gutierrez, for the payment of the fees adjudged by the court to be due to the latter, with the corresponding duty and right on the part of said fees from the heirs, who have been declared responsible in proportion to the shares received."cralaw virtua1aw library

Bengzon, C.J., Padilla, Concepcion, Barrera, Paredes and Dizon, JJ., concur.

Bautista Angelo, Reyes, J.B.L., Regala and Makalintal, JJ., took no part.