Administration; Compelling Witnesses' Attendance; Contest of Petition; Grounds Counterpetition; Notice; Combined Hearings. (a) Before letters of administration are granted in the first instance, the fact of death and that the decedent died intestate, and that due notice of the hearing has been given pursuant to the provisions of Sections 1815 and 3401 of this Title, must be proved by the evidence of the petitioner or others; and the Superior Court of Guam may also examine any other person concerning the time, place and manner of death, the place of decedent's residence at the time of death, the character and value of the decedent's property, and whether or not the decedent left any will; and the Superior Court of Guam may compel any person to attend as a witness for those purposes. (b) Any person interested in the estate may, at any time prior to the hearing provided in Section 1813 of this Title, oppose a petition for the grant of letters of administration by filing in the Superior Court of Guam written grounds of opposition thereto, challenging the competency of the petitioner or the petitioner's right to letters of administration, or such person may assert his own right to letters of administration. In the latter case, he must file a petition and the notice required for an original petition (as provided in Sections 1815 and 3401 of this Title) must be given, and the Superior Court of Guam must hear the two petitions together. SOURCE: Subsection (a): Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 443. Subsection (b): California Probate Code, § 442 (as amended); Guam Law Revision Commission. COMMENT: Section 1817 brings together provisions concerning what must be proved at the hearing on a petition for letters of administration in the first instance - - i.e., where no administrator has yet been appointed -- (subsection (a),) and provisions concerning contests of such petitions when such contests are filed in cases wherein no administrator has yet been appointed (subsection (b).) No change has been made to § 443 of the Probate Code of Guam (1970), which constitutes subsection (a). As to subsection (b) -- which is based on California, and not Guam, law -- the only change from prior Guam law is that the grounds for a contest have been altered somewhat to conform with the California law as it was amended in 1941. OFFICIAL FORM: See Official Forms Nos. 2 and 3, Appendix "A".
COL120106 Ch. 18 APPOINTMENT OF ADMINISTRATORS