N.Y. Surrogate's Court Procedure Act § 1118: Powers before issuance of letters Before letters are issued to him and subject to the provisions of section 1128 of this article the publ...

§ 1118. Powers before issuance of letters

Before letters are issued to him and subject to the provisions of

section 1128 of this article the public administrator is authorized to:

1. Take possession of, collect and secure the personal property within

his county of any person who shall die intestate or testate within this

state or elsewhere or whose property shall arrive with the county after

his death whenever there is no person eligible to act as fiduciary of an

intestate or of a testator, if the executor named in the will refuses or

neglects to act or is dead or his whereabouts are unknown or if he is

not eligible to receive letters.

2. Take possession of, manage and collect the rents of the real

property of an intestate whose distributees are unknown or, whose

distributees if known, are non-domiciliaries or of a testator if the

executor named in the will refuses or neglects to act or is dead or his

whereabouts are unknown or if he is not eligible to receive letters.

3. Pay the funeral expenses of the decedent.

4. Sell as and when authorized by the court perishable property or

such other property of the decedent as the preservation of the estate

requires.

5. Sell at public auction all property delivered to him as the effects

of persons whose deaths have been reported to him by the department of

hospitals, the police department or any other department or person.

6. Defray the expenses of the foregoing activities and the expenses

incidental to his application for letters.