After Dolores’ father Isaac died in 1944, Dolores was adopted under the Carolinian custom of mwei mwei by Isaac’s sister, Rita. After inheriting from Rita’s estate, Dolores’ heirs sought recognition as heirs to Isaac’s estate as well. The question facing the court was whether a child who is adopted by a blood-relative after her natural parents have died can inherit from both her adoptive and natural parents.
The Supreme Court first tried to resolve this case by examining Carolinian custom, which permits an adopted child to still inherit from her natural parents if this is the natural parents’ intent. However, the Superior Court had found that Isaac’s intent was unknown, and that Carolinian custom did not provide a mechanism for determining inheritance when a parent’s intent is unknown and the other family members disagree. Based on this absence of customary law, the Superior Court had ruled that customary law could not be applied, and the Supreme Court affirmed this conclusion.
While the Superior Court had then denied the inheritance claim on equity grounds, the Supreme Court ruled that in the absence of customary law, the Superior Court should have examined non-customary sources of law. The Supreme Court ruled that Trust Territory precedent — in force when Isaac died — established that Dolores’ right to inherit from Isaac’s estate vested upon his death in 1944, and that under the common law Dolores’ subsequent adoption did not divest her or her estate of this vested right. The high court observed that the right to inherit from a natural parent is preserved unless it is extinguished by statute, and that the Commonwealth Legislature had not passed any statute eliminating Dolores’ right to inherit from her natural father. Accordingly, the high court ruled that Dolores’ estate and her heirs could inherit from Isaac Kaipat’s estate.
