Judge grants more heirs to estate that got $4.7M land compensation

The Superior Court has granted another heirship claimant to the Rita Kaipat estate that was awarded $4.7 million in land compensation by the Marianas Public Lands Authority last year.

Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama granted the heirship petition filed by Maria Indalecio.

Lizama ordered Rita Kaipat estate administrator Luis Pelisamen to include the following heirs in the distribution of the estate: Maria Indalecio and her brothers and sisters Vicente Muna, Bonifacio Muna, Remedio Muna, Bernadita Sablan, Susana Muna, Ignacia Sablan, Jacinta Lacy, Alfonsina Arju, Juan Muna, and Juanita Charfurus.

Lizama determined that Maria Indalecio and her siblings are entitled to their proportionate share in the Rita Kaipat estate along with all the other heirs.

There are at least six other heirship claimants to the estate.

The Saipan Tribune learned yesterday that the $4.7 million land compensation settlement was split equally among three estates. All the heirs of the Rita estate are then expected to split the $1.3 million, said a source who is aware of the proceedings.

Court records show that Maria Indalecio, through attorney Antonio Atalig, asked the court to declare Carmen Guelles an heir to the Rita Kaipat estate.

The estate administrator denied the claim on grounds of untimeliness and for lack of evidence.

The court determined that Carmen Guelles was born in 1918 to Maria M. Roligat. Maria Roligat was Rita Kaipat’s first cousin.

Carmen Guelles lived with and was raised by Rita Kaipat. She had 13 children, with Maria Indalecio as the oldest.

Carmen Guelles visited Rita Kaipat regularly and brought her food.

Rita Kaipat died in 1959. Carmen Guelles died in 1992.

Proceedings in the Rita Kaipat probate began in 1990, with the appointment of Joaquina Laniyo as administratrix.

None of the heirs who testified in the evidentiary hearing held in 1991 stated that Carmen Guelles was Rita Kaipat’s adopted daughter, nor did anyone deny that she was Kaipat’s adopted daughter.

Maria Indalecio was unaware of the proceedings, as she was living on the mainland with her children. She did not find out about the probate until May 2005, when she read about the estate’s compensation for land taking by MPLA.

Lizama ruled that Maria Indalecio’s claim is not time-barred, as she did not receive proper notice of the 1991 hearing.

Lizama said there is no evidence to refute the claim that Rita Kaipat raised Camen Guelles from the time she was a small child.

“They spoke Carolinian to each other. Carmen considered Rita to be her mother and maintained a mother-daughter relationship with Rita throughout Rita’s life,” the judge said.