Estate of Chen CA1/4

Filed 4/27/22 Estate of Chen CA1/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

Estate of TSAN CHING CHEN, Deceased.

LI QIN, Petitioner and Appellant, A162760 v. (Alameda County XIANG QUN WANG, Super. Ct. No. RP20079918) Objector and Respondent.

Appellant Li Qin, appearing in propria persona, appeals a judgment denying her petition to administer decedent Tsan Ching Chen’s estate. She contends the court erred in determining that she is not Chen’s “surviving spouse” under Probate Code section 78.1 We shall affirm the judgment. 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.

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

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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 notice of appeal of the March judgment.3 Discussion A party has standing to participate in probate proceedings if that party is an “interested person.” (Estate of Maniscalco (1992) 9 Cal.App.4th 520, 523.) The “interested person” requirement “prevents persons with no interest from delaying the settlement of estate affairs” and “guarantees the probate