Senate Bill S6674

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S6674

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the surrogate's court procedure act, in relation to
the filing by a public administrator of an informatory accounting for
a small estate


 PURPOSE :
To eliminate the $5,000 limit on small estates for which a Public
Administrator must file an informatory accounting.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :
This bill amends paragraph (c) of subdivision 2 of section 1213 of the
Surrogates Court Procedure Act so that it matches the same
jurisdictional threshold of a small estate set forth in SCPA 1301.

 JUSTIFICATION :
Public Administrators are appointed by the courts for a variety of
reasons in New York City and the six largest counties outside of the
boroughs of New York City. Their role is to administer the estates of
those persons who die without wills, without living fiduciaries or die
without any known relatives. For those Public Administrators who work
outside of the City of New York, they are required to file with the
court a formal accounting for any estate over $5,000. The filing of an
informal accounting is acceptable for those estates under the $5,000
              

threshold and the informal accounting can be performed internally by
an Administrator, which saves the estate money. A formal accounting is
very detailed, requires expensive publication, and requires the hiring
of outside counsel. All of the aforementioned fees associated with a
formal accounting diminish the value of the estate.

Through an oversight, the $5,000 threshold relative to the requirement
to file a formal accounting for the counties outside of New York City
was not raised to $30,000 when the limits for a small estate were
increased to $30,000. This bill corrects this oversight and, if
enacted, will go a long way toward saving money for the beneficiaries
of a small estate.

 EXISTING LAW :
Existing law requires Public Administrators outside of the City of New
York to file a formal accounting and perform detailed publication for
any estate under their jurisdiction over $5,000 even though the
definition of a small estate was increased to $30,000 on January 1,
2009.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
None.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
None.

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
Would save counties money.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.