Montana Attorney General Opinion 16-82

Opinion No. 82. Public Administrator-Estates- Fees, Recovery of. HELD: Where a public adminis- trator, in good faith and proceeding solely in the fulfilling of his duties, has filed for letters of administration and paid the fee and where an heir subsequently appears and successfully contests granting of letters (1) the county cannot refund the fee to the public administrator (2) but it would seem that the court would be au- thorized to require the repayment of such expenditure by the adminis- trator. Mr. William R. Taylor County Attorney Anaconda, Montana April 18, 1935. Your question is as follows: "The public administrator applied for letters of administration in an estate. He was justified in believ- ing that the deceased did not have any relatives in this State. Subse- quently to his filing for letters an heir appeared and successfully con- tested the granting of letters of ad- ministration to the public adminis- trator, and applied for and received letters of administration in his own name. "The public administrator ad- vanced the fee required for the fil- ing of letters of administration, and now would like to have that sum of money refunded." Your letter is not exactly clear as to whether you refer to the right of the clerk of court to refund the mon- ey, or the right of the public admin- istrator to receive same from the es- tate. If you are referring to the right of the county to refund this money, I am of the opinion that same cannot be done. If you are referring to the right of the court to require repayment of this fee by the administrator to the public administrator, there appears to be no direct authority. It is made the duty of the public administrator to take charge of estates under Sec- tion 9990, R. C. M. 1921, and he may be required to surrender his admin- istration to the proper party under Section 9994, R. C. M. 1921. Where he has acted in good faith and proceeded solely in the fulfilling of his duties, it would seem to me that the court would be authorized to require the repayment of his expen- ditures by the administrator.