A more thorough explanation:

Term: Priori Petenti
Definition: Priori petenti is a legal principle that means when there are multiple people who are equally qualified to manage an estate, the court will choose the person who applies first.
Examples: If two siblings are both eligible to manage their deceased parent's estate, but one sibling applies to the court before the other, the court will choose the sibling who applied first to manage the estate. This is an example of priori petenti in action. Another example is if two business partners are both qualified to manage a company, but one partner applies to the court to be the administrator before the other, the court will choose the partner who applied first.