Effect of Death of Party Litigant

The death of the client extinguishes the attorney-client relationship and divests a counsel of his authority to represent the client. Accordingly, a dead client has no personality and cannot be represented by an attorney (Laviña vs. CA). Neither does he become the counsel of the heirs of the deceased unless his services are engaged by said heirs (Lawas vs. CA).

Upon the receipt of notice of death, the court shall order the legal representative or representatives of the deceased to appear and be substituted for the deceased within thirty (30) days from notice (Sec. 16, Rule 3). The substitution of the deceased would not be ordered by the court in cases where the death of the party would extinguish the action because substitution is proper only when the action survives (Aguas vs. Llamas).

Where the deceased has no heirs, the court shall require the appointment of an executor or administrator. This appointment is not required where the deceased left an heir because the heir may be allowed to be substituted for the deceased. If there is an heir but the heir is a minor, the court may appoint a guardian ad litem for said minor heir (Sec. 13, Rule 3).
The court may appoint an executor or administrator when:

[1] The counsel for the deceased does not name a legal representative, or;
[2] There is a representative named but he failed to appear within the specified period (Sec. 16, Rule 3).