BECAUSE non-Northern Marianas descent surviving spouses are not eligible to inherit land when there are Northern Marianas descent children who can inherit the land pursuant to the CNMI Constitution, the Superior Court has denied the petition of Nelida B. Atalig, the spouse of former Justice Pedro Manglona Atalig, to inherit one-half of her late husband’s 300,509.3 square meters of land.
Former Justice Atalig had NMD children, Judge Joseph N. Camacho said in his ruling. “To grant Nelida her request to inherit half of all of Atalig’s real property would in effect deny all of Atalig’s NMD children of their rightful inheritance,” the judge added.
“Fifty-five years is a lifetime for Atalig’s NMD children to wait until they can inherit all, not just half, of their rightful inheritance of their father’s land,” the judge said.
Last year, Nelida Atalig, represented by attorney Joseph E. Horey, asked the court to allow her to inherit one-half of her late husband’s 300,509.3 square meters of land.
The plaintiff subsequently sought the court’s approval of a leasehold interest in those properties for 55 years.
In his order, Judge Camacho said 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 said.
Former Justice Atalig passed away in February 2005 at the age of 55. Mrs. Atalig passed away last month.
According to Article 12 of the CNMI Constitution, “Acquisition of permanent and long-term interests in real property within the Commonwealth shall be restricted to persons of Northern Marianas descent.”
A person of Northern Marianas descent is a person who is a citizen or national of the United States and who has at least some degree of Northern Marianas Chamorro or Northern Marianas Carolinian blood or a combination thereof.
