Vicens v. Cruz
Vicens v. Cruz
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Margarita Vicens, widow of Rafael Cruz, applied to the .District Court of Ponce for a judicial administration of the ■estate of her deceased husband, alleging, among other things, 'that the death of her husband occurred in Guánica which was -his last place of residence. .Subsequently Rafael Cruz San
After a hearing on this motion,, at which evidence was introduced, the District Court of Ponce, holding that it had been proven satisfactorily that Guánica was the last residence of the deceased, Eafael Cruz, and that he had left considerable property there, ruled that it had jurisdiction of the proceedings and denied the change of venue requested. The present appeal was taken from that decision.
There are two assignments of error, namely: That the lower court was absolutely without jurisdiction because the last residence of the deceased was within the district-of Maya-güez and that while both courts had concurrent jurisdiction, the Mayagüez court had already acquired jurisdiction when the widow filed therein the petitions for the appointment of a defensor and a tutor.
As to the first error alleged, the trial court having decided the conflict in the evidence on this point to the effect that Guánica was the last residence of Rafael Cruz, we must consider that that fact was proven. Therefore, as section 23 of the Act relating to Special Legal Proceedings confers jurisdiction of proceedings for the judicial administration of the estate of a deceased person upon the court of the district of the last residence of the decedent or of the district in which his property is-situated, the District Court of Ponce had jurisdiction, because, as Guánica was the last residence of the deceased and is within the judicial district of Ponce, the petition was filed in that court.
Therefore, the only proceedings of that nature are those begun before a court which had jurisdiction and from which this appeal was taken.
The decision appealed from should be affirmed.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.