Estate of Chen CA1/4

Background On November 25, 2020, Qin filed a petition for letters of administration claiming that Chen had died intestate and that she was his surviving spouse. Qin attached, as an exhibit to her petition, a copy of a Chinese marriage certificate issued to her and Chen in April 1990, as well as related authentication and translation documents.

All statutory references are to the Probate Code unless otherwise noted.

1 Respondent Xiang Qun Wang filed an objection asserting that Qin was not the decedent’s “surviving spouse” as defined by the Probate Code.2 Wang attached, as exhibits to his objection, documents showing that in 1995, Qin secured a divorce decree from Chen in China and in 1998, Qin married Lee Edward Lawler. On March 1, 2021, the court found that Qin, “having entered into a marriage with another individual subsequent to her marriage with the decedent, and having procured a divorce decree in China purportedly dissolving her marriage with the decedent . . . is not the surviving spouse of [the decedent].” The trial court entered judgment denying Qin’s petition based on her lack of standing to petition for letters of administration. On May 28, 2021, Qin timely filed a…