§ 11-21-05 — Duties and powers of public administrator

The public administrator shall be ex officio public special administrator, guardian, and
conservator in and for the county and shall take into the administrator's charge, without
application to any appropriate court or special appointment, the estates of all deceased persons,
and the persons and estates of all minors, and the estates or persons and estates of all
incapacitated persons, in the following cases:
1. When a person dies intestate in the county without relatives or known heirs.
2. When a person dies testate and the executor named in the will is absent or fails to
qualify and there is no heir, legatee, or devisee available to act as personal
representative.

3. When an unknown person dies or is found dead in the county.
4. When money, property, papers, or other estate is left in a situation exposed to loss or
damage, and no other person administers the estate.
5. When any estate of any person who dies intestate in the county or elsewhere is left in
the county and is liable to be injured, wasted, or lost, and the intestate does not leave
a known spouse or heirs in this state.
6. When a minor is under the age of fourteen years, the minor's parents are dead, and
the minor has no guardian or conservator.
7. When any estate is left in the county belonging to a minor whose parents are dead, or
whose parents, if living, refuse or neglect to qualify as guardian or conservator, or who,
having qualified, have been removed as guardians or conservators, or from any cause
are incompetent to act as guardians or conservators, when such minor has no one
authorized by law to take care of and manage the minor's estate.
8. When the estate or person and estate of an incapacitated person shall be left in the
county and there is no legal guardian or conservator for such incapacitated person and
no competent person who will qualify to take charge of such estate or to act as
guardian or conservator known to the court having jurisdiction.
9. When for any other good cause, the court shall order the administrator to take
possession of an estate to prevent its being injured, wasted, stolen, or lost.