Administration Petition and possible issues.

My first legal job was an assistant law clerk in Kings County Surrogate’s Court. During that time, I learned the importance of creating an estate plan. If a family member dies (the “decedent”) without a will, a member of the family will have to file an administration petition. A distributee (which is an heir and typically a spouse or child) will file the petition proposing to be the administrator. The role of the administrator, is to locate the assets of the decedent and distribute the assets amongst the distributees.

The proposed administrator has to notify the other distributes. This is typically where the conflict starts. Other distributees can object to the proposed administrator.  Creating a will or revocable trust can help prevent most of this headache for your family.

Litigation in Surrogate’s Court can be timely and costly. Creating an estate plan helps avoid this by expressing your wishes in writing. If you have questions about an administration proceeding please reach out to the Hamdan Law Firm PLLC through our contact page.