AN estate administrator has requested the Superior Court to hold Bank of Guam in contempt for failing to comply with a decree directing it to distribute $600 in an estate fund account in the bank.
In reply, BOG, represented by attorney Robert T. Torres, said, “The bank, has, in the past, encountered numerous security issues pertaining to estate checking accounts and court-ordered distributions containing only the court’s banner and electronically signed orders by an issuing judge.”
Particularly, he said, the bank is extremely concerned that such orders are highly susceptible to being falsified and manufactured so as to obtain unlawful access and use of an estate checking account’s funds and information.
“To avoid these instances, the bank has fortified its security measures by requiring the administrator of an estate account to provide an authenticated copy of a court order for the distribution of estate funds,” Torres said.
Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho granted the request of Clara Concepcion Camacho, administrator of the estate of Ursula Camacho Tinio, for a hearing and scheduled it for Oct. 17 at 2:30 p.m.
According to Clara Concepcion Camacho’s motion to show cause, on July 10, 2023, the court issued a decree stating that the decedent’s savings account at the BOG shall be distributed to her.
The decree provided: “The Bank of Guam is ordered to pay the contents of the account over to Concepcion Clara Camacho without delay.”
She said on July 20, 2023, she went to BOG and presented the bank with a copy of the decree, bearing the electronic signature of the judge who entered it.
“I explained to BOG that the rules of the court provide that the electronic signature has some legal effect as an actual signature. However, the bank refused to honor the decree, and insisted that it would not pay the contents of the account to me unless I obtained a copy of the decree with an original signature by the judge. I am advised that it would cost at least $50 to obtain this. I should not have to bear this expense given the fact that an electronically signed order is clear and valid, and given the relatively small amount of money contained in the account,” the estate administrator said.
She said BOG has knowledge of the court’s order. “It had the ability to comply with the order. And it willfully failed to do so. This constitutes contempt of court, and I want the bank to be held in contempt of court and punished for its willful disobedience of this court’s order. I also want the court to order the bank to pay for the cost of filing and serving this motion.”
Torres, for his part, asked the court not to find BOG in contempt.
“Upon showing of an authenticated copy of the court’s decree, the bank shall authorize the withdrawal of funds in accordance with the authenticated court decree,” he said.
Clara Concepcion Camacho is represented by attorney Michael White.
