Tenorio v Guerrero [2014] GUSC 30 (10 November 2014)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF GUAM

IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF
LAGRIMAS ECLAVEA ESTEBAN, Deceased

by

CARMELITA B. TENORIO,
Petitioner-Appellant

and

MARTHA G. LEON GUERRERO, MARGARITA ESTEBAN CAMACHO,
and JOVITA E. QUENGA,
Contestants-Appellees.

Supreme Court Case No.: CVA13-031
Superior Court Case No.: PR0043-12

OPINION

Filed: November 10, 2014

Cite as: 2014 Guam 30

Appeal from the Superior Court of Guam
Argued and submitted on May 14, 2014
Hagåtña, Guam

Appearing for Petitioner-Appellant: William Benjamin Pole, Esq. Law Offices of Gumataotao & Pole 115 San Ramon St., Ste. 301 Hagåtña, GU 96910

Appearing for Contestants-Appellees: Leevin T. Camacho, Esq. Law Office of Leevin T. Camacho 194 Hernan Cortez Ave., Ste. 216 Hagåtña, GU 96910

BEFORE: ROBERT J. TORRES, Chief Justice; F. PHILIP CARBULLIDO, Associate Justice; KATHERINE A. MARAMAN, Associate Justice.

CARBULLIDO, J.:
[1] This appeal concerns the distribution of proceeds from a sale of estate property. While serving as executrix of the Estate of Lagrimas Eclavea Esteban, Petitioner-Appellant Carmelita B. Tenorio sought partial distribution, through Lagrimas’s will, of a one-sixth share of the proceeds from a land sale. This sale involved land which was returned to the estate of Lagrimas’s parents by the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission. Other devisees of Lagrimas’s will objected to this distribution. The Superior Court denied Tenorio’s petition for partial distribution. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

[2] Lagrimas Eclavea Esteban was one of six children of Maria Eclavea Esteban and Pedro Palomo Esteban. Her parents had an ownership interest in land that had been condemned by the U.S. government. Maria Eclavea Esteban died on October 13, 1961, and Pedro Palomo Esteban died on October 17, 1967; each died intestate.

[3]