NELIDA B. Atalig, the spouse of former Justice Pedro Manglona Atalig, has asked the Superior Court to allow her to inherit one-half of her late husband’s 300,509.3 square meters of land.
Represented by attorney Joseph Horey, Nelida Atalig, a non-Northern Marianas Descent person, has requested the court for an order for a partial distribution of her late husband’s estate by giving her a fifty-five year leasehold interest in a total of 15 real estate properties on Saipan and Rota.
Horey said as the late justice’s surviving spouse, Mrs. Atalig is “statutorily entitled to one-half of all the listed properties, pursuant to 8 CMC § 2903(a).”
He said the properties listed contain a total of 300,509.3 square meters of land, meaning that Mrs. Atalig is statutorily entitled to one-half that amount, or 150,254.65 square meters; or, in the alternative, to an undivided one-half interest in the entire 300,509.3 square meters, he added.
However, Horey added, Mrs. Atalig is not a person of NMD, and is therefore not constitutionally eligible to acquire long-term interests in real property in the CNMI, pursuant to Article XII of the CNMI Constitution.
The Northern Mariana Islands Probate Law provides that “[w]henever a person not of NMD takes title to real property under this code, he or she shall take the maximum allowable legal interest in the real property and the remaining interest if any shall vest in the next closest heirs or devisees who can legally take title,” Horey said.
He added that the maximum allowable legal interest is a term of 55 years, or, in the alternative, a 55-year leasehold interest.
“Nelida Atalig is therefore entitled to a 55-year interest in 150,254.65 square meters,” her lawyer said.
“By this motion, however, she seeks that interest in only 97,389 square meters, and waives any claim to the rest. Nelida does not believe that she is actually under any legal obligation to provide any extra consideration to the Estate in order to take the interest which she is legally entitled to inherit. Nevertheless, in the interest of facilitating an undisputed resolution of this long-pending matter, she does so, giving up approximately one-third of her total claim to be divided among the other heirs, asking only that her right to the remainder be recognized for fifty-five years, either as a leasehold or a simple term of years,” Horey said.
Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho issued an order on Friday to schedule an evidentiary hearing for April 22, 2021.
He cited a previous ruling by the CNMI Supreme Court “that a non-NMD surviving spouse can own land if there are no NMD children who can inherit the land.”
The judge also noted in his order that the former justice had children who were NMD and could inherit the land.
The late justice had NMD children with Mrs. Atalig as well as other NMD children from a prior relationship, the judge added.
Noting the “far-reaching ramifications” of the case, Judge Camacho said, if requested, he would reschedule the hearing date to allow the parties more time to submit their briefs and other documents.
Former Justice Atalig passed away in February 2005 at the age of 55.