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Question
A decedent died intestate, leaving a surviving spouse and three children. The estate consists of a single parcel of land appraised at 4,000,000 pesos; there are no debts and no will. All heirs join in a Petition for Summary Settlement under Rule 74, Secs. 2-5, requesting a court order dividing the land among the heirs in their legal shares and closing the estate by summary settlement. After the required notices and publication, the court grants the petition and issues an order of summary settlement distributing the land to the heirs. A few months later, a neighboring party asserts a pre-existing easement over a portion of the land, which had not been disclosed in the petition. (a) Is the proposed summary settlement proper under Rule 74, Secs. 2-5 given these facts? (b) What essential procedural steps must the court observe to render a valid summary settlement? (c) How should the court address the neighboring party’s easement claim in light of the summary settlement?