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The Public Administrator administers estates
of deceased persons. There is a public
administrator in every county in the state of North Carolina.
The North Carolina General assembly created the office of
Public Administrator primarily for the purpose of providing
someone to administer estates that would otherwise remain
unadministered. The Public Administrator
handles estates in several instances, including, but not
limited to, the following: (1) when no one else is
available to handle the estate, (2) whenever there are no
known heirs, (3) when the executor or administrator of an estate becomes ill or
dies while administering an estate, (4) when an executor or
administrator is removed by the court for failure to perform
his duties competently or is corrupt, or (5) when the
complexity of an estate is such that the heirs or devisees
would prefer to have an experienced professional handle the
matter for them. In addition, the Public Administrator
is often appointed to allow an injured plaintiff to file a
lawsuit against a deceased driver in a wrongful death
matter. An administrator or executor of an estate
is the personal representative of the deceased. It is her
job to wind down or bring to a close the financial affairs
of a deceased, pay her bills and distribute property to
heirs and devisees. To complete this process, she must
sometimes employ accountants, auctioneers and others to
assist her. The North Carolina General Statutes
provide that an administrator must inventory the property of
the decedent, pay taxes, the funeral bill and other debts
and claims and sell such of the decedent’s property as is
necessary to accomplish this end. Often the personal
representative must defend the estate, or bring lawsuits to
resolve civil difficulties. In such an event, if the
personal representative is also an attorney, as is the case
with the Public Administrator, she is able to represent the
estate in that capacity as well as in her capacity as
administrator and thereby alleviate the necessity and
expense of employing additional counsel.
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