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No. California state law prohibits the Public Administrator and his/her staff from purchasing estate property.

Phone: (831) 784-5999
Fax: (831) 753-1436

The Public Administrator may  be notified of a death by mortuaries, the Coroner, residential care facilities, hospitals, landlords, or private citizens when someone dies and there are assets to be protected or if the family of the decedent cannot be immediately located. 

If an estate is insolvent or has insufficient cash   assets to pay creditors, taxes, and fees, property will have to  be sold to pay these obligations. If an estate is solvent and has sufficient cash, heirs are given the opportunity to select estate assets that they want to receive in the place of cash. If real property is vacant, it is usually sold as soon as possible. However, if an heir wishes to receive real property as part of his or her distribution, the heir should make such wishes known and reach an agreement with the Public Administrator as soon as possible. 

A less formal procedure called Summary Administration applies to estate having a value of $100,000 or less. It is designed to permit administration with very little, and in some cases no, Court involvement. Only the Public  Administrator is authorized by law to handle a Summary Administration. 

The law allows for a minimum compensation of $1,000 payable from the assets of the estate to the Public Administrator to offset cost of providing Summary Administration.

The rights of heirs are fixed by law. It is usually not necessary to hire an attorney because legal work is handled by the attorney for the Public    Administrator. However, if you right to inherit is not clear, is challenged or if substantial claims are made against the estate, you would be advised to retain legal counsel to represent your interests. The fees for such legal representations  are your obligation and are not payable by the estate.

The public Administrator has the same duties and functions as a private adminstrator, some of which are to:

• Protect the decedent's property from waste, loss, fraud, or theft.
• Make arrangments for the disposition of the decedents remains.
• Conduct a thorough investigation to discover all assets.
• Ensure that the estate is administered accourding to the decedent's wishes.
• Pay decedent's bills and taxes
• Ensure all estate benefits are applied for an recieved.
• Locate persons entitle to inherit from the estate and ensure that these individuals recieve their inheritance.

In preforming these functions, the Public Administrator is required to maintain a fully documented audit trail to make certain that each and every asset is accounted for and distributed.

In the legal method of insuring that creditors of an estate are paid and that the reamining property in the estate is diestributed to the entitled persons. This process is carried out by the executor/administrator of the estate under the supervision of the Probate Division of the Superior Court.

If the value of the estate id in excess of $100,000, a Court proceeding is commenced by filing a petition who admit a will to probate and/ or appoint and administrator. After a hearing, the Court will issue its order to admit the decendent's will to probate and/or appoint a personal representative.

Anyone who was owed money by the decedent at the time of death must file a Creditor’s Claim with the Court against the estate in order to receive payment from the estate. The Public Administrator, as personal representative, notifies all known creditors that they must file a claim within a statutory period.