Estates Under Fifty-Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($52,500); Surviving Spouse’s

Right to Three Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($3,750) from Deposits in Savings Institutions. Whether a person dies testate or intestate, and irrespective of the character of his property, if the value of the estate does not exceed Fifty-Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($52,500), the decedent’s surviving spouse, if entitled by succession or by the last will and testament of the decedent to any money of the decedent on deposit in any bank, savings and loan association, credit union or other savings institution licensed to do business in Guam, may collect such money, not to exceed the total sum of Three Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($3,750), without procuring letters testamentary, letters of administration with the will annexed or letters of administration, and without awaiting administration upon the estate of an intestate decedent or the probate of the will of a testate decedent, upon furnishing the bank, savings and loan association, credit union or other savings institution with an affidavit showing the right of the affiant to receive such money. SOURCE: Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 630a; Guam Law Revision Commission. Amended by P.L. 33-213:2 (Dec. 15, 2016), P.L. 38-014:2 (June 17, 2025). COMMENT: The purpose of § 3103 is to provide the surviving spouse with enough money to live on pending the award of a family allowance once administration commences. Under § 630a of the Probate Code of Guam (1970), the most the surviving spouse could receive was $100.00, if the estate did not exceed $1,000.00. The Commission is of the opinion that those amounts are far too low, given present economic reality and the declining value of money, and has thus raised the amount from $100.00 to $1,000.00, if the estate does not exceed $10,000.00.