Sasago Estate, Re [2019] SBHC 32; HCSI-CC 536 of 2017 (18 March 2019)

HIGH COURT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS

Case name:	Sasago Estate, Re
Citation:
Date of decision:	18 March 2019
Parties:	Public Trustee, Tom Gilbert Sasago
Date of hearing:	11 March 2019
Court file number(s):	CC 536 of 2017
Jurisdiction:	Civil
Place of delivery:
Judge(s):	Kouhota; PJ
On appeal from:
Order:	The application is dismissed. The letters of Administration are granted to Tom Gilbert Sasago in respect of the estate of Moses Sasago. Cost against the Public Trustee.
Representation:	Mr. R Muaki for the Applicant Mr. E Toifai for the Objector
Catchwords:
Words and phrases:
Legislation cited:	Public Trustee Act, s5
Cases cited:	Taylor v Soe [2012] SBHC 32

IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS
CIVIL JURISDICTION

Civil Case Number 536 of 2017

BETWEEN

IN THE MATTER OF MOSES SASAGO, LATE OF MARINGE, ISABEL PROVINCE

AND

AN APPLICATION FOR LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION BY PUBLIC TRUSTEE.

AND

IN THE MATTER OF A CLAIM BY TOM GILBERT SASAGO

Date of Hearing: 11 March 2019
Date of Ruling: 18 March 2019

Mr. R Muaki for the Applicant
Mr. E Toifai for the Objector

Ruling on Application for the letters of Administration of Deceased Estate

Application

This is an application by the Public Trustee for grant of letters of administration in respect of the estate of late Moses Sasago who died intestate on 24^th June 2017. The Public Trustee says he has the locus standi to apply for letters of administration by virtue of section 5 of the Public Trustee Act, Cap 31. Tom Gilbert Sasago the eldest son of the deceased’s first marriage objected to the application. For purposes of completeness I set out the relevant provisions of section 5 of the Public Trustee Act, Cap 31, they read as follows;

Section 5(1) “Upon receipt of any report made pursuant to section 4 or upon otherwise receiving knowledge of death of any person referred to that section; the public trustee shall cause such further inquiry to be made as to the estate of the deceased person as he may consider necessary, appears to him- The Public then is required to make inquiry on the matters set out in paragraphs a-f and then he may apply to the court for probate of the will or letters of administration to the estate of such deceased person, whereupon the court may grant to the public trustee of probate or letters of administration, as the case may require.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (1), if the circumstances of the case appears to the court so to require, for reasons to be recorded in the proceedings, the court may, if it thinks fit, of its own motion or otherwise, after having heard the public trustee, grant letters of administration, with or without the will annexed to the public trustee even though there are persons who, in the ordinary course, would be legally entitled to probate or to administer the estate of the deceased in preference to the public trustee”

I also set out section 4 of the Act, Section 4(1) of the Public Trustee Act, Cap 131 states “ When a person dies within Solomon Islands the provincial government officer or the magistrate of the province in which death occurs may, if he considers it necessary or expedient, upon receiving notice of such death or upon such death coming to his knowledge, forthwith institute inquiry to ascertain whether the deceased left any, and if so what, estate within Solomon Islands, and may report the death together with full particulars as to the estate, as is ascertainable to the public trustee”

The locus standi of the Public Trustee under section 5 of the Act in my view is subject to section 4 (1) of the Act triggered only by a report made under section 4 or the second limb of section 5 (1)

In the present case, while no report was made under section 4 of the Act, I am satisfied the public trustee assumes his standing under the second limb of section 5(1) of the Act when the wife of deceased Diana Sasago informed him of the deceased death. What transpired between the public trustee and Mrs. Diana Sasago however is not known, whether she approaches the public Trustee to assist her to apply for letters of administration or whether she instructs the public trustee to apply for the letters of administration to be granted to himself. In any event, there is an objector to the public trustee’s application for letters of administration and that is the question before the court.

In support of his objection the objector Tom Gilbert Sasago filed a sworn statement on 19^th January 2018 in which he deposed inter-alia to the following;

1. that there are 3 siblings of the deceased first marriage and 4 siblings on the deceased second marriage to Dianna Sasago.
2. that the deceased consented that he takes care of his bottling business on P/N 131-001-1 on Tirahi Island. Tirahi Trading Resort is a company 100 % owned by the deceased.
3. that Dianna Sasago is not a lawful widow of the deceased as there was no proof of marriage including proof of customary marriage.
4. I also deny that there was any authorization at all from the surviving members of the family entitled by law to a grant to have the estates of the diseased administered by the public trustee since there is no evidence of such. Besides that, he was not aware of any such authorization from surviving members of the family, neither was he informed about it. In fact, he said he was not consulted about any authorization to that effect even though Diana Sasago live together with him and family at P/N.192-010-121 at Ranadi, Honiara.

He went to say as follows;

5. “I say that I am the custodian of the motor rewinding business and say as follows:
   1. I do not need a will to be a custodian of the deceased estates since there is no will that is why a letter of administration is required in this case to administer the estates of the deceased.
   2. In effect, I should be the beneficiary of the motor rewinding business as a custodian of it to provide for needs of the 4 children from the said marriage of the diseased to Diana Sasago and my 2 children as I have been doing since the deceased died intestate.
6. Further, I say that in the year 2015 I was recalled by the diseased from being a ship's engineer to take over his motor rewinding business registered as Motor Marine Proprietor Limited which is situated at Ranadi, Honiara on P/N.192-010-121. In year 2015 to 2016, he became very sick with prostate. In early January 2016, he continues working but was still sick until in or around February to April 2017 when he could no longer do any work. By then he was very sick and I looked after him until his death on 24^th June 2017. I arranged for his burial and also paid for the burial expenses.
7. After his death, I had taken full responsibility of looking after the motor rewinding business and taking care of my family and the 4 children and Dianne Sasago. I used earnings from the business cater for our wellbeing and paid school fees for the children of the diseased who go to school. Am still performing the responsibility and care of looking after everybody in the family”

He, therefore, pleaded that it is only right and fair that he should have grant of the deceased estates which includes the sixty percent (60%) shares in the Marine Motor proprietors Limited, as next owner of the Tirahi Trading Resort owned by the diseased where he was given consent to undertake a bottling project.

At the outset, I must make it clear to the parties especially to the objector that this application is for letters of administration and not for the court to distribute the estate of the deceased. The letter is not the function of this court.

With regard to the application, no evidence was tendered by Diana Sasago why she had to go to the public trustee. As I alluded earlier it is not clear whether Diana Sasago instructed the Public Trustee to apply for grant of letters of administration or whether the public trustee took it upon himself to apply for letters of administration. It is also not clear why she did not apply herself or whether she did not want Tom Gilbert Sasago or any of the family members to apply for the grant of letters of administration thus she has to go to the public trustee.

On the materials before the court, I am satisfied that the family members have not agreed as to who should apply for the letters of administration or for Diana Sasago to approach the Public Trustee to apply for letters of administration. The Public Trustees Act is of no assistance to us in this respect but the Wills Probate Administration Act gives guidance as to who should apply for grant of letters of administration when a person dies intestate. In particular Regulation 3 (3) which states,

(1) “Where a person dies wholly interstate, the persons having a beneficial interest in the estate shall be entitled to a grant of letters of administration in the following order of priority-

• (a) The surviving spouse;
• (b) The children of the deceased or issues of any such child who died during the lifetime of the deceased;
• (c) The father or mother of the deceased;
• (d) Brothers or sisters of the whole blood or issues of any such brothers or sisters who died during the lifetime of the deceased.

(2) If no person in any of the above class mentioned in paragraph (1) has survived the deceased then the following, if they have a beneficial interest in the estate, shall be entitled to grant in the following order of priority-

• (a) brothers and sisters of the half blood of the issue of any such deceased brother or sister who died during the lifetime of the deceased;
• (b) grandparents;
• (c) Uncles and aunties of the whole blood or issues of any such deceased uncle or aunt who died during the lifetime of the deceased.

(3) In default of any person having a beneficial interest in the estate, the public trustee shall be entitled to grant if he claims bona vacantia on behalf of the Crown.

In Taylor v Soe [SBHC] HC CC 422 of 2011, his Lordship Chetwynd J, at paragraph 5, paragraph 6 stated:

“It is only if there is no one left with a beneficial interest that the Public Trustee can take a grant and claim bona vacantia. In that, the case here, or put another way, has the whole Silakanegana Land Holding Group died out? On the Claimant’s own evidence, he represents a family group who say they are members of the Silakanegana Land Holding Group so to the very least that can be said from his evidence is that, no; the whole group has not died out and there are survivors with a beneficial interest in the land. Of course, there is also evidence from the Second Defendants; they are closely related to the First Defendants. The issue of bona vacantia simply does not arise.”

In the present case, there are persons who had beneficial interest in the estate still surviving and one of them is the objector Tom Gilbert Sasago, the eldest son of the deceased first marriage. The Public Trustee had submitted that the fair administration of the deceased estate is a concern. That in my view is an assertion as there is no evidence that the objector is not capable of or will not administer the deceased estate fairly. In fact, the evidence shows that after the death of his father he is the one running his late father’s business as well as taking care of the family including Diana Sasago and her 4 children and his own children.

While the Public Trustee may have locus standi to apply for letters of administration, he is at the bottom of the order of priority under regulation 3(3) of The Grant of Probate and Administration (Order of Priority) Regulation.

It has not been shown that Tom Gilbert Sasago is incapable of administrating the estate fairly so that circumstances dictate that I use my discretion under section 5(2) of the Public Trustee Act to grant the letters of administration to the Public Trustee. The application is dismissed. The letters of Administration are granted to Tom Gilbert Sasago in respect of the estate of Moses Sasago. Cost against the public trustee.

The Court
Justice Emmanuel Kouhota
Puisne Judge