In re the Estate of Kassam

141 Misc. 366, 252 N.Y.S. 706, 1931 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1723
CourtNew York Surrogate's Court
DecidedSeptember 15, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 141 Misc. 366 (In re the Estate of Kassam) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Surrogate's Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Estate of Kassam, 141 Misc. 366, 252 N.Y.S. 706, 1931 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1723 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1931).

Opinion

Henderson, S.

Upon this application for letters of administration the public administrator of the county of Bronx appears and demands their issuance to him.

The decedent died on March 7, 1931, intestate, a citizen of the United States and a resident of Bronx county. . He left no widow. His nearest relative and sole next of kin and distributee is a sister, a citizen of the Bepublic of Estonia and residing therein at Parnu. At the time of decedent’s death she was the only person entitled to take or share in the personal property of the decedent, and was, therefore, the only person who had a right to letters of administration upon his estate prior to that of the public administrator under the provisions of section 118 of the Surrogate’s Court Act.

As she was a non-resident alien, she was not competent to serve as administratrix and letters of administration could not have been issued to her. (Surr. Ct. Act, § 94.) As the decedent left no other next of kin, the public administrator of the county of Bronx had, at decedent’s death, a right to administration superior to all other persons and such letters must have been granted to him (Surr. Ct. Act, § 118; Matter of Findlay, 253 N. Y. 1, 13; Matter of Brancati, 137 Misc. 50; affd., 232 App. Div. 740; Matter of MacMillan, 133 Misc. 570), unless an order were made upon his formal motion, excusing him from acting as such administrator. (Surr. Ct. Act, § 120; Matter of Morel, 103 Misc. 555.)

The petitioner, a resident of this State, is the daughter of decedent’s sister and, therefore, a niece of the decedent, but she is not one of his next of kin ” as defined either in former subdivision 12 of section 314 of the Surrogate’s Court Act (Matter of Kroog, 84 Misc. 676), or in present section 81 of the Decedent Estate Law (added by Laws of 1929, chap. 229, as amd. by Laws of 1930, chap. 174), for the reason that her mother, decedent’s sister, survived the decedent.

The petitioner in her petition, verified June 22, 1931, and filed herein on June 26, 1931, alleges that on May 27, 1931, her mother duly assigned and transferred to her all her mother’s right and interest in and to this estate and duly conferred upon her all right and power to effectuate such transfer as well as the administration of the estate. The instrument assigning such interest and conferring such power was duly recorded in this office on June 24, 1931.

The petitioner prays that letters be issued to her on the ground that before any petition for administration was presented, she became, by such assignment, the only person entitled to take or share in this estate, and that she is a niece and a close relative of the decedent.

It may be conceded, for the purpose of this application, that [368]*368the recorded instrument constituted a valid and absolute assignment of the entire estate, a valid and full power of attorney and a consent that the petitioner or the petitioner’s nominee be appointed administrator. The petitioner, as assignee of a distributee, is, therefore, a person interested in this estate (Surr. Ct. Act, § 314, subd. 11) and may petition for the appointment of an administrator. (Surr. Ct. Act, § 119; Matter of Jordan, 202 App. Div. 710.)

It has long been held that a non-resident alien, who is herself incompetent to serve as administratrix and, therefore, is not entitled to letters, cannot delegate a right which she does not herself have, and that her nominee, or a person designated by such nominee, cannot be appointed administrator by virtue alone of such nomination, delegation, designation or consent, for the right to administration is personal and without power of substitution except under circumstances expressly prescribed by statute. (Surr. Ct. Act, §§94 and 118; Matter of Findlay, supra; Matter of Brancati, supra; Matter of MacMillan, supra; Matter of Ferrigan, 92 App. Div. 376; Matter of Flynn, Id. 379; Matter of Root, 1 Redf. 257; Sutton v. Public Administrator, 4 Dem. 33, 36; Matter of Mora, 133 Misc. 254; Matter of Kroog, supra.)

The petitioner, therefore, cannot be appointed administratrix under such power of attorney or assignment, as the choice of the sole next of kin or distributee.

Neither can she be granted administration as the assignee of the sole distributee, for she is not any other next of kin entitled to share in the distribution of the estate ” to whom letters may be issued under the provisions of section 118 of the Surrogate’s Court Act. The expression next of kin ” was defined in subdivision 12 of section 314 of the Surrogate’s Court Act, prior to the general amendment of laws and acts relating to decedents’ estates and their administration, in 1929, effective September 1, 1930, as follows: “ The term, ‘ next of kin,’ includes all those entitled, under the provisions of law relating to the distribution of personal property, to share in the unbequeathed residue of the assets of a decedent after payment of debts and expenses, other than a surviving husband or wife.” The laws relating to such distribution were contained in the former sections 97, 98, 99, 100 and 103 of article 3 of the Decedent Estate Law, formerly known as the Statute of Distribution. Subsequent to the effective date of such general amendment, the statutory definition of that term was and now is contained in the new section 81, article 3, of the Decedent Estate Law, which reads: “ Whenever in any statute the words heirs, heirs at law, next of kin, or distributees, are used, such words shall be construed to mean and include the persons entitled [369]*369to take as provided by this article.” The petitioner is not “ entitled to share ” in the unbequeathed assets of the decedent under the Statute of Distribution (Dec. Est. Law, former § 98, subds. 5, 10, 11 and 12), for the reason that her mother, decedent’s sister, survived the decedent, nor is she entitled to take as provided by ” article 3 of the former Decedent Estate Law (Dec. Est. Law, § 81) for the same reason.

Section 118 of the Surrogate’s Court Act provides that the legal representative of a deceased sole distributee, the committee of an incompetent sole distributee or the guardian of an infant sole distributee, shall have prior right to letters in place of such deceased, incompetent or infant sole distributee. It also permits the appointment of the committee of any incompetent distributee and the guardian of any infant distributee in the place of such incompetent or infant, and the designee of all the distributees if the latter are all competent to receive letters, but it is silent as to an assignee of a next of kin or distributee. It has been held in an application for letters of administration with the will annexed that, in the absence of statutory authority, the assignment by a sole residuary legatee of all her rights and interest under the will, does not give her assignee any right to administration c. t. a. under section 133 of the Surrogate’s Court Act; that an assignee is not a legatee, although an assignee is a person interested,” and that the statute nowhere gives an assignee any right to letters of administration c. t. a. (Matter of Jordan, supra.)

Applying the reasoning of that decision, the assignment by a sole next of kin does not give the assignee thereunder any right to administration under the statute regulating the grant of administration in cases of intestacy.

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Bluebook (online)
141 Misc. 366, 252 N.Y.S. 706, 1931 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1723, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-kassam-nysurct-1931.