Title to Property

1 GCA § 404 — under Political Authority; Jurisdiction.

1 GCA § 404

All property within the boundaries of Guam which does not belong to any person vests to the government of Guam. Whenever title fails for want of heirs, or next of kin, the property vests in the government of Guam. SOURCE: Former Govt. Code § 103, as modified.

COL 2026-05-05

COMMENT: The only changes made here are to replace the term “reverts to vests in” and to replace “belongs to” with “vests in the government.” ...The reason is that the former term implies that title once vested in the government of Guam. While this may be the case technically, land registration cases have generally held that private ownership actually extends to before the U.S. possession of Guam. Therefore, the term “reverts to” is not, in fact, accurate. See definition of “reverts” in Black’s Law Dictionary. The term “vests in” is more correct legally than “belongs to,” although this was the former law.