Public Administrators — Fees challenged
First of all, however, we must know about public administrators. In some jurisdictions, there is no such thing as a public administrator and the concept of one is “alien.” However, in other jurisdictions, the practice has a long history. Basically, the system works like this.
When a person dies and no one has opened an estate administration, the court appoints a “public administrator” to administer the estate. The goal is to preserve the estate until someone does open the administration or, if no one does, to collect all the assets and distribute them to the heirs or beneficiaries. In the meantime, the public administrator earns substantial fees for handling the estate.
The following excerpts are from Phil Fairbanks, Court appointee defends juicy fees, Buffalo News, May 10, 2009:
In the world of politics and patronage, Acea Mosey has one of the true plums.
As Erie County’s court-appointed public administrator, Mosey oversees the settlement of estates, hundreds of them, for people who die without relatives or heirs.
And she gets paid handsomely to do it.
Exactly how much is hard to determine, but her caseload is big enough to generate more than $600,000 in potential commissions over the course of about three years.
Mosey, a former Erie County Water Authority commissioner active in Democratic Party politics, says her true compensation is closer to $180,000 a year and not all of that money goes to her. * * *
Mosey is quick to note that, yes, she takes in about $180,000 a year in commissions, but a good chunk of that money goes to pay for her staff and expenses, which she estimates at about $75,000 a year. * * *
Mosey doesn’t like or agree with the suggestion that her office is still a patronage plum. She talks at length about improvements she has made to the office, including a major computerization of the public administrator’s records. * * *
While the job of public administrator is largely removed from the public eye, its role in providing lucrative commissions for private lawyers has been at the core of more than one headline-grabbing Surrogate Court scandal.
The courts, especially those downstate, have a legacy of corruption and misconduct that dates back far enough that Robert F. Kennedy, a New York senator in the 1960s, once compared the courts to “a political toll booth exacting tribute from widows and orphans.”
Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.