Title 8, Family Law & Probate

Proceedings in Adoption, Annulment, or Divorce: Confirmation in Accordance With Recognized Custom. (a) When an adoption, annulment, or divorce has been effected in the Commonwealth in accordance with recognized custom and its validity is questioned or disputed by anyone in a mann…

Age of Majority. All persons, whether male or female, residing in the Commonwealth, who have attained the age of 18 years shall be regarded as of legal age and their period of minority to have ceased. Source: 39 TTC § 6.

Short Title. This law may be cited as the Northern Mariana Islands Probate Law. Source: PL 3-106, ch. 1, § 1. Commission Comment: PL 3-106 took effect February 15, 1984. PL 3-106, ch. 11, § 1. Many provisions in PL 3-106 are similar to provisions in the Uniform Probate Code appro…

Effect. The property of persons who die before February 15, 1984, shall pass according to title 13 of the Trust Territory Code and other applicable law. Source: PL 3-106, ch. 1, § 2.

Severability. If any provision of this law or its application to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the law which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the pr…

Purposes. (a) This law shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies. (b) The underlying purposes and policies of this law are: (1) To simplify and clarify the law and custom concerning the affairs of decedents and missing persons; (2) T…

Effect of Fraud and Evasion. Whenever fraud has been perpetrated in connection with any proceeding or in any statement filed under this division or if fraud is used to avoid or circumvent the provisions or purposes of this division, any person injured may obtain appropriate relie…

Evidence as to Death or Status. (a) A certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate purporting to be issued by an official or agency of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, if the death purportedly occurred in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands…

General Definitions. Subject to additional definitions contained in subsequent chapters which are applicable to specific chapters, and unless the context otherwise requires, in this law: (a) “Ancestors’ land” means land acquired by a person in any manner from one or more of his C…

Two Noncitizens or Noncitizen and Citizen; Requisites of Marriage Contract. To make valid the marriage contract between two noncitizens or between a noncitizen and a citizen of the Trust Territory, it is necessary that: (a) The male at the time of contracting the marriage be at l…

Requisites of Marriage Contract; License. (a) (1) The Governor or a mayor is authorized to grant a license for marriage between two persons. Upon the filing of an application for the license, the Governor or a mayor shall collect from the parties the following fees: (i) Ceremony …

Two Noncitizens or Noncitizen and Citizen; Requisites of Marriage Contract; Ceremony. The presence of two witnesses, at least, is required for the celebration of a marriage between two noncitizens or between a noncitizen and a citizen of the Trust Territory. The marriage ceremony…

Records; Certificates; Register. (a) It is the duty of every person authorized by any religious or non-religious entity to perform marriages to make and preserve a record of every marriage performed by that person, regardless of the citizenship of the parties, showing the names o…

Marriages Between Citizens. Marriage contracts between parties, both of whom are citizens of the Trust Territory, solemnized in accordance with recognized customs, shall be valid, a notice of the marriage, showing the names and addresses of the persons married, their ages and the…

Rules and Regulations. [Repealed.] Source: PL 5-20, § 12; repealed by PL 12-19, § 3. Comment: With respect to the former reference to the “director” of the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, see Executive Order 94-3 (effective August 23, 1994), reorganizing the executi…

Application. Except as otherwise provided in this law, this law applies to: (a) The affairs and estates of decedents and missing persons domiciled in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; (b) The property of nonresidents located in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar…

Jurisdiction. (a) To the full extent permitted by the Northern Mariana Islands Constitution and the Schedule on Transitional Matters, the Commonwealth Trial Court shall have jurisdiction over all subject matter relating to estates of decedents, including construction of wills and…

Rules of Practice. Unless specifically provided to the contrary in this law, or unless inconsistent with its provisions, the Rules of Probate Procedure of the Commonwealth Trial Court shall govern notice and pleadings and all proceedings under this law. The court may amend the ru…

Records and Certified Copies. The clerk of court of the Commonwealth Trial Court shall keep a record for each decedent involved in any document which may be filed with the court, including petitions and applications, demands for notices or bonds, and of any orders or responses re…

Appeals. Appellate review of orders, final decisions, or judgments of probate matters shall be governed by the laws and rules applicable to the appeals to the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, or such other appellate forum as may be provided by law. Source: PL 3-10…

Appealable Orders. An appeal may be taken from an order granting or revoking letters testamentary or of administration; admitting a will to probate or revoking the probate of a will; setting aside an estate claimed not to exceed $1,500 in value; setting apart property as a homest…

Oath or Affirmation on Filed Documents. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, or by rule, every pleading which is required to be filed with the court under this law, including applications, petitions, and demands for notice, shall be deemed to include an oath, affirma…

Orders for Custody, Support and Alimony. In granting or denying an annulment or a divorce, the court may make such orders for custody of minor children for their support, for support of either party, and for the disposition of either or both parties’ interest in any property in w…

Effect of Decree. The effect of a decree of annulment or divorce when it has become absolute is to restore the parties to the state of unmarried persons so far as the marriage in question is concerned. Source: 39 TTC § 104.

Annulment Authorized: Grounds. A decree annulling a marriage may be rendered on any ground existing at the time of the marriage which makes the marriage illegal and void or voidable. The court may, however, refuse to annul a marriage which has been ratified and confirmed by volun…

Annulment: Residency Requirements. No annulment may be granted unless one of the parties has resided in the Commonwealth for the three months immediately preceding the filing of the complaint. Source: 39 TTC § 152.

Annulment: Legitimacy of Children of Annulled Marriage. Any child of a marriage annulled under this chapter shall be legitimate. Source: 39 TTC § 153.

Divorce: Grounds. A divorce from marriage may be granted under this chapter for the following causes and no other: (a) Adultery. (b) The guilt of either party toward the other of such cruel treatment, neglect or personal indignities, whether or not amounting to physical cruelty, …

Divorce: Residency Requirements. (a) A divorce or dissolution of marriage may be granted if one of the parties has been a resident of the CNMI for at least ninety days immediately preceding the filing of a complaint for divorce, or dissolution of marriage. (1) For purposes of thi…

Divorce: Forgiveness as Defense. No divorce may be granted where the ground for the divorce has been forgiven by the injured party. Forgiveness may be shown by express proof or by the voluntary cohabitation of the parties with knowledge of the fact and restoration of the forgivin…

Divorce: Procurement or Connivance as Defense. No divorce for the cause of adultery may be granted where the offense has been committed by the procurement or with the connivance of the plaintiff. Source: 39 TTC § 204.

Capacity to Make a Will. Any person 18 years of age or older who is of sound mind may make a will. Source: PL 3-106, ch. 3, § 1.

Wills Made Under Customary or Prior Written Law. (a) Validity of Customary Wills and Partidas. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the making of a will or partida in accordance with the historical traditions and customs of the Northern Mariana Islands, be it Chamorro or Carolin…

Execution. (a) The courts of the Commonwealth shall give effect to a written will duly executed. In the absence of a written will, heirship shall be determined in accordance with customary law and the probate laws of the Commonwealth, as may be applicable under this division. (b)…

Holographic Will. A will which does not comply with 8 CMC § 2303 is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and the material provisions are in the handwriting of the testator. Source: PL 3-106, ch. 3, § 4.

Oral Will. (a) An oral will is a nuncupative will. An oral will may be made under this chapter only by a person in imminent peril of death, whether from illness or otherwise, and shall be valid only if the testator dies as a result of or during the impending peril. An oral will m…

Witnesses. (a) Any person generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will. (b) No will is invalidated because attested by an interested witness, but any interested witness shall, unless the will is also attested by two disinterested witnesses, forfeit as much o…

Wills Executed Outside the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. A will is valid if executed outside the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands if its execution complies with Commonwealth law or the law at the time of execution of the place where the will is execute…

Revocation by Writing or by Act. A will or any part of a will is revoked: (a) By a subsequent will which revokes the prior will or part expressly or by inconsistency; or (b) By being burned, torn, cancelled, obliterated, or destroyed, with the intent and for the purpose of revoki…

Revocation by Divorce or Annulment. If after executing a will the testator is divorced or his or her marriage is annulled, the divorce or annulment revokes any disposition of property made by the will to the former spouse and any nomination of the former as executor, unless the w…

Revival of Revoked Will. (a) If a second will which, had it remained effective at death, would have revoked the first will in whole or in part, is thereafter revoked by acts under 8 CMC § 2308, the first will is revoked in whole or in part unless it is evident from the circumstan…

Incorporation by Reference. Any writing in existence when a will is executed may be incorporated by reference if the language of the will manifests this intent and describes the writing sufficiently to permit its identification. Source: PL 3-106, ch. 3, § 11, modified. Commission…

Events of Independent Significance. A will may dispose of property by reference to acts and events which have significance apart from their effect upon the dispositions made by the will, whether they occur before or after the execution of the will or before or after the testator’…

Separate Writing Identifying Bequest of Tangible Property. Whether or not the provisions relating to holographic wills apply, a will may expressly refer to a written statement or list to dispose of items of tangible personal property not otherwise specifically disposed of by the …

Joint or Mutual Wills. A joint or mutual will does not create a presumption of a contract not to revoke the will. A contract to make a will or devise, or not to revoke a will or devise, or to die intestate, can only be established by: (a) Provisions of a will stating material pro…

Renunciation of Succession. (a) A person (or his personal representative) who is an heir, devisee, a person succeeding to a renounced interest, or beneficiary under a testamentary instrument may renounce in whole or in part the succession to any property or interest, including a …