) Letters of administration of the estate of a person dying intestate must be granted to one or more of the following persons, if competent under the provisions of Section 1801 of this Title, who are entitled to letters of administration, upon proper petition therefor, in the following order:
(1) The surviving spouse, or some person competent under the provisions of Section 1801 of this Title whom the surviving spouse may request to have appointed.
(2) The children, or any of them.

(3) The grandchildren, or any of them. (4) The parents, or either of them.
(5) The brothers or sisters, or any of them.

(6) The next of kin entitled to share in the estate, or any of them.

(7) The relatives of a previously deceased spouse, or any of them, when such relatives are entitled to succeed to some portion of the estate.

(8) The creditors, or any of them.

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(9) Any person, other than those provided hereinabove, who is competent under the provisions of Section 1801 of this Title, including, but not limited to, the Territorial Ombudsman (Suruhanu) or an attorney at law who indicates his willingness for such appoint- ment. The Superior Court of Guam may establish and maintain a list or roster of attorneys at law who indicate their willingness to accept such appointments under the provisions of this subsection, and may grant letters of administration to an attorney at law whose name appears on such list or roster.
(b) A relative of the decedent who is entitled to priority under the provisions of subsection (a) of this Section is entitled to priority only if either of the following facts exist:
(1) Such relative is entitled to succeed to all or part of the
estate; or

(2) The relative is a child, grandchild, parent or grandparent of the decedent and either takes under the will of, or is entitled to succeed to all or part of the estate of, another deceased person who is entitled to succeed to all or part of the estate of the decedent.
(c) Of several persons petitioning for and equally entitled to a grant of letters of administration, relatives of the whole blood shall be preferred to those of the half blood.
(d) When there are several persons petitioning for and equally entitled to a grant of letters of administration, the Superior Court of Guam may, in its discretion, grant letters to one or more of them.
(e) When a creditor petitions for letters of administration, and no qualified person from a class prior in rank to that of the creditor (as provided in subsection (a) of this Section) so petitions, the Superior Court of Guam, at the request of another creditor, may in its discretion grant letters of administration to a qualified person from a class subsequent in rank to that of the creditor.
(f) Letters of administration must be granted to any applicant competent under the provisions of Section 1801 of this Title, when persons having priority fail to petition for letters of administration for themselves.

SOURCE: Subsection (a): Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 422; Guam Law Revision Commission. Subsection (b): California Probate Code, § 422 (as amend- ed). Subsection (c): Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 424. Subsection (d): Probate

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Code of Guam (1970), § 425. Subsection (e): Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 425; Guam Law Revision Commission. Subsection (f): Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 427.

COMMENT: Section 1805 brings together all the provisions which were contained in the Probate Code of Guam (1970) concerning the granting of letters of administration and the priority of applicants for such letters. No substantive changes have been made in subsections (c) through (f). As to subsections (a) and (b), two changes have been made to § 422 of the Probate Code of Guam (1970): (1)
the addition of the language commencing with A…including, but not limited to…@ in
subsection (a)(9); and (2) the addition of subsection (b)(2). The addition to subsec- tion (a)(9) has been made to set guidelines for the Superior Court as to who may be
appointed administrator where no person having priority petitions for letters. It is not, however, the Commission’s intention that § 1805(a)(9) give the Superior Court the power to appoint an administrator sua sponte where no person has filed a petition for letters. As to the alteration to subsection (b)(2), note that § 422 of the Probate Code of Guam (1970) contained only language like that in § 1805(b)(1); the addition of subsection (b) (2) has the effect of broadening the class of relatives who are entitled to letters of administration on a decedent’s estate. Whereas under
prior § 422 only relatives who were A…entitled to succeed to the estate or some
portion thereof@ were entitled to priority, the class of relatives so entitled under
subsection (b)(2) now also includes relatives who are entitled to take some portion of the decedent’s estate through another decedent who was himself entitled to succeed to some portion of the decedent’s estate.