About the Public Administrator

About the Public Administrator

The Public Administrator is an agency of the City of New York. Each borough of the City of New York has its own Public Administrator. The Public Administrator of the County of New York administers the estates of New York County residents who die without a will and no one else is eligible or willing to administer the estates.    

The Public Administrator’s primary duties include collecting and distributing the assets of the deceased person, arranging appropriate funerals, and administering estates that would otherwise remain un-administered. The agency is primarily charged with protecting the assets of any estate it is administering.

The Public Administrator becomes involved in an estate:
  • When a person dies with no will and is survived by no known next of kin or no kin closer than first cousins;
  • When a person dies with a will and no one has offered the will for probate; and
  • When the executor of a will or administrator of an estate becomes ill, dies, is convicted of a felony or is otherwise disqualified from serving as a fiduciary, and no other person is available to administer the estate.
Other duties of the Public Administrator include identifying and marshaling the assets of the decedent, creating an inventory of the decedent’s tangible property, and paying the taxes, funeral bills, debts and other expenses of the estate. The office may secure the services of attorneys, accountants, auctioneers and other professionals, who are compensated by funds from the estate.

The Office of the New York County Public Administrator is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NY County EEO Policy Statement