Comptroller Stringer Audit Uncovers Inadequate and Inconsistent Management of Brooklyn Estates

 

An audit of the operating practices of the Kings County Public Administrator’s Administration of Estates found weaknesses in the management of Brooklyn decedents’ estates

Comptroller Stringer recommended actions to the Surrogate’s Court and the Kings County Public Administrator to ensure uniform, consistent, and accountable policies and procedures for estate management

 Today, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer released an audit revealing multiple deficiencies in the Kings County Public Administrator’s (KCPA’s) management of estates belonging to Brooklyn residents who pass away without a will or a surviving family member able to take charge of their estates. It is the KCPA’s responsibility to protect each decedent’s estate from waste, loss, and theft, make burial arrangements, identify and liquidate assets, pay taxes, and distribute the assets in accordance with a decree issued by the Surrogate’s Court. Comptroller Stringer’s audit found weak controls and insufficient procedures in place for searching for, collecting, retaining, and recording personal property belonging to the deceased. Comptroller Stringer’s audit also noted the existence of conflicting orders from the Surrogate’s Court that impair the KCPA’s ability to administer estates properly.

“New Yorkers must be assured that City government will responsibly manage estates of those who do not have a will or a family member able to take charge of their property after their passing,” said New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. “Our audit uncovered disturbing weaknesses in the Brooklyn public administrator’s office that hurt its ability to safeguard and account for personal belongings of the deceased. Bureaucracy and conflicts cannot stand in the way of responsible management of estates and their property. We owe it to those New Yorkers we have lost and their families to be responsible stewards.”

There are five Public Administrators (PAs) within New York City, each appointed by the judge or judges of the Surrogate’s Court of their respective counties. The Office of the Kings County Public Administrator (KCPA) administers estates of Brooklyn residents who die without a will and without a family member or other person authorized to administer their estates. In Kings County, two elected Surrogate’s Court judges (Surrogates) preside over the Surrogate’s Court.

Comptroller Stringer’s audit found the following deficiencies in the Kings County Public Administrator’s management of estates of the deceased:

• The existence of two Administrative Orders of the Kings County Surrogate’s Court that convey specific yet directly conflicting directions to the PA and Deputy PA related to estate administration and access to and control of the KCPA’s suspense account creating confusion and dissent within the KCPA related to the proper chain of command.
• Significant weaknesses in the KCPA’s operating practices that preceded the two Administrative Orders including a lack of detailed policies and day-to-day procedures and responsibilities to govern certain aspects of its estate-administration processes.
• Inconsistencies in the KCPA’s searches for, and its collection, inventory, and retention of, personal property belonging to decedents’ estates including some investigators not immediately logging items collected at a deceased person’s residence onto the designated forms.
• KCPA office staff did not properly document the office’s receipt of the estates’ personal property that investigators brought back to the office for vault storage.
• KCPA could not account for a significant quantity of estates’ personal property and its inventory record of non-liquid personal property was incomplete, inconsistent, and overwritten.
• KCPA did not properly conduct periodic inventory counts of estates’ personal property, leading to the potential loss or misappropriation of estate property, which could go undetected.

In response to these concerning findings, Comptroller Stringer recommended the following actions:

The Kings County Surrogate’s Court should:

• Review its Administrative Orders of May 18, 2020 and May 20, 2020 with the assistance of the Office of Court Administration to address and as far as possible resolve any contradictions that may exist between them.
• Confer internally, with the assistance of the Office of Court Administration, to develop a framework in which the two Kings County Surrogates may jointly provide an appropriate level of Court oversight to ensure the KCPA’s accountability to the Court for the administration of estates.

The KCPA should:

• Establish written policies and procedures that include detailed guidance to staff, consistent with the Surrogate’s Court Procedures Act and related State guidelines, for the proper performance of their assigned duties.
• Ensure that it properly logs and maintains essential information concerning all personal property of every estate during or immediately following investigations at decedents’ residences.
• Ensure that it consistently documents all aspects of the in-office inventory intake process on the required forms.
• Perform and obtain appraisals of non-liquid inventory items belonging to closed estates, sell the items at auction, and ensure the proceeds of the sales are credited to the estates and remitted to the appropriate individuals in accordance with the applicable decree wherever feasible.
• Regularly download, preserve, and periodically compare copies of video surveillance records with access log records to ensure a complete record of access to the vault.

To read Comptroller Stringer’s investigation of the Kings County Public Administrator and Surrogate’s Court, click here.