Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: administrators legal represention

I agree with both Andrew and Laura, and fiduciary obligations are imposed on any estate representative. You do not state why the administration is "contentious" or who has caused it; a beneficiary or an administrator. Usually, in an administration, there is a bond involved, so if anything improper occurs, you have an additional source to look to. If you feel anything is being done improperly, you will need to retain an independent attorney, who might be reimbursed from the estate (if anything improper has taken place) or even the administrators, personally, if they have acted improperly.

Re: administrators legal represention

My condolences on your loss.

1. The client of the attorney-administrator is the estate.

2. The co-administrator is what is called a 'fiduciary'. This is a position of trust which should be relinquished at the first hint of any 'conflict of interest'. Of course, in probate/estate law, the rules for a non-attorney fiduciary are relaxed.

But the co-administrator is also supposed to represent the estate and not himself.

3. If there are problems and you find you cannot rely on the administrator or the attorney-administrator to act in accord with their duties, then you may need your own lawyer.

4. The estate can be charged with your attorney fees only if fraud is discovered on the part of the current administrator. Generally, you are responsible to pay your own lawyer.

I hope this has been helpful. You are welcome to ask any follow-up questions for no fee.

Andrew Nitzberg

Re: administrators legal represention

The correct answer depends on whether the attorney is acting as co-administrator with Letters of Administration (in which case his/her obligation is to administer the estate according to law) or whether the non-attorney administrator retained the lawyer to perform the legal work involved in administration (in which case the attorney's obligation is to his/her client).

New York law provides for certain notice to beneficiaries during the process of probate or administration.

An inventory must be filed, and probate must be competed w/in statutory time periods, depending on the size of the estate. In addition, depending on the size of the estate, Federal and New York Estate taxes may be due, and distribution cannot be made until the tax liability is accounted for.

I recommend making written inquiry to the attorney, addressing the specific question you have, in a non-contentious way, first. At some point, if your questions are unanswered or not answered in a meaningful way, you may need to retain your own counsel. And at some point, you may have the right to request in court an accounting of what has transpired in the estate administration. Keep in mind that estate litigation ultimately reduces the share of all beneficiaries, because the delays, costs, and attorneys' fees generally come from the estate. Although legal fees are usually an individual's own responsibility, in probate matters attorneys for the beneficiaries sometime succeed in making fee applications against the estate assets.