Lahara

Objector and appellant Brandi L. LaHara is the daughter of the decedent, William Earl Garrett. LaHara had sought letters of administration of decedent’s intestate estate. The probate court granted the petition of petitioner and respondent Darryl Freeman, the nominee of Gwendolyn Garrett, decedent’s surviving spouse. We affirm the probate court’s order awarding letters of administration to Freeman, the nominee of the surviving spouse.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Decedent married Gwendolyn Garrett (hereafter Garrett) in 1975. There were no children of the marriage; LaHara, decedent’s daughter, and Freeman, Garrett’s son, had each been bom before the marriage. Garrett separated from decedent in 1978. Decedent resided in California and Garrett moved to the East Coast. In 1979, Garrett filed an action in Washington, D.C., for dissolution of the marriage. She did not pursue the matter, however, because “[m]y husband did not want the divorce.” Garrett never acted to dismiss the dissolution case in Washington, D.C. She received notification from the court that it would be dismissed unless she continued to prosecute the case; she did nothing, and was informed that the matter…