Estate Administration ( Without Will )

Estate Administration Attorney

When there is No Will, an Estate administration attorney can help you obtain Voluntary Letters, Temporary Letters, Limited Letters, and/or full Letters of Administration and help ensure that the process of administering the estate proceeds efficiently.

What is Estate Administration?

If you die without a Will, an Estate Administrator may need to be appointed in order to manage your property and handle your post mortem affairs. An Estate Administration attorney can assist with this process.

Who can be the Estate Administrator and How can an Estate Administration Attorney Help?

Surrogate’s Court Procedures Act Section 1001 sets forth who can be the Estate Administrator, and the priority in which Letters of Administration can be issued. The order of priority for Letters of Administration are:

• Spouse
• Child(ren)
• Grandchild(ren)
• Parent(s)
• Sibling(s)
• A first cousin can serve as an estate administrator ONLY when all of the cousins on both sides of the family are known and the Court has acquired jurisdiction over all of them. Otherwise, in a cousin’s case, Letters of Administration shall issue to the Public Administrator of the county of Decedent’s death.
• In some cases, a person separate and apart from the above list can serve as a designated administrator but this can only happen if all of the other interested parties consent to the appointment of the designated person.

(There is an interesting anomaly in the law as presently written in that if you die without a Will, all of the next of kin can choose and designate an independent person to serve as an Administrator and there is no additional requirement that the distributees themselves be eligible. Where there is a Will, however, if all of the nominated executors cannot be found or are not qualified, the residuary beneficiaries can choose an independent person to serve as Administrator, c.t.a. only if each of the residuary beneficiaries are themselves eligible. Compare SCPA 1001(6) with SCPA 1418(6).) An estate administration attorney can help you determine who should petition to be the administrator.

What is the Role of an Estate Administrator and how can an Estate Administration Attorney Help?

Once letters of Administration have issued, the Estate Administrator’s duties parallel the Executor’s duties. The Administrator should find and collect the assets. Any liquid assets should be deposited into an estate account. If there are parcels of real property, then the Administrator needs to determine whether the property should be sold or distributed in kind. The Administrator should wait to see what claims are filed against the estate. Once the assets are collected, the claims and debts are satisfied, then the Administrator can distribute the property in accordance with the intestate distribution schedule set forth in EPTL 4-1.1.

I typically recommend that the Administrator create a distribution chart. I also ask that all beneficiaries sign a Receipt Release and Indemnification Agreement before the Administrator turns over the funds so that the Administrator can be protected.

How do I Become Appointed Estate Administrator?

First, you must figure out who the Decedent was immediately survived by. The person who immediately survived the Decedent has the first priority to become an Administrator, unless you can find a reason to disqualify them.