N.Y. Surrogate's Court Procedure Act § 903: General powers of temporary administrator 1

§ 903. General powers of temporary administrator

1. Letters of temporary administration shall confer upon the person

named therein, subject to any limitation contained in an instrument

offered for probate, all the powers and authority with respect to all

real and personal property of a decedent, absentee or internee, and

subject him or her to all the duties and liabilities of an administrator

with respect thereto except that they do not confer any authority to pay

or to satisfy any testamentary disposition or intestate share.

2. Where a temporary administrator is appointed upon the estate of an

absentee or internee and the estate includes an interest as a tenant in

common, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety of real property in the

same or another county, the court may by order authorize the temporary

administrator to join with the other tenants or tenant in a sale,

mortgage or lease of the real property or in a conveyance to the other

tenants or tenant upon such terms as may be approved by the court and

assented to by the other tenants or tenant. The sale, mortgage or lease

may be authorized without limitation by the purposes, conditions and

restrictions stated in article 19. The proceeds of a sale and the rents

received upon any lease made pursuant to this subdivision shall be

apportioned according to the interest of the parties.

3. A temporary administrator appointed upon the estate of an absentee

or internee has all the powers and authority enumerated in the preceding

subdivisions of this section with respect to the real and personal

property of the absentee or internee. The temporary administrator's acts

done in pursuance of that authority are binding upon the absentee or

internee, if living, or his or her distributees or devisees, if he or

she be dead.

4. (a) The court may, in the order directing the issuance of temporary

letters of administration or in one or more subsequent orders, limit

such letters to the receipt of assets specified in such order or orders

and may prohibit the collection of any other assets of the decedent, or

may limit, restrict or authorize the person named in such letters in any

manner that the court deems advisable for the effective protection of

the rights of all persons who may have an interest in the estate of the

decedent, absentee or internee.

(b) In such order or orders, the court may make such directions as it

deems proper and necessary with respect to the custody and preservation

of all papers and records of the decedent, absentee or internee.

Discovery and production of such papers and records shall be governed by

article 31 of the civil practice law and rules.