In re Beharrie
Opinion of the Court
Ordered that the decree is affirmed, with one bill of costs payable by the appellant personally.
The decedent Philmour Beharrie died intestate on May 29, 2009, survived by three minor children. At the time of his death, the decedent owned a pharmacy, shares in a cooperative apartment unit, and a home. The petitioner, Tyshawna Mendez, the mother of two of the decedént’s children and the court-appointed guardian of their property, who resides in the cooperative apartment unit owned by the decedent’s estate, commenced this proceeding to be appointed administrator of the decedent’s estate. The objectant, Nataki Lewis, the mother of one of the decedent’s children, who resides in the home owned by the decedent’s estate, objected, contending, inter alia, that the petitioner was unqualified and unfit to serve in light of hostility between the objectant and the petitioner. The Surrogate’s Court issued temporary letters of administration to the Kings County Public Administrator (hereinafter the Public Administrator), and the petitioner then moved to revoke such letters and issue letters to her. The objectant opposed this motion. The Surrogate’s Court denied the motion and issued permanent letters of administration to the Public Administrator.
Contrary to the petitioner’s contention, as the court-appointed guardian of the property of two infant distributees of the decedent’s estate, she does not have priority to be appointed administrator (see SCPA 1001 [1]). As such, the Surrogate’s Court had broad discretion to determine to whom it should issue letters of administration, based on the best interests of the estate (see Matter of Sadowski, 21 AD3d 1034, 1035 [2005]; cf. Matter of Boyle, 224 AD2d 374 [1996]). Here, the Surrogate providently exercised her discretion in denying the petitioner’s motion to revoke the temporary letters of administration previously issued to the Public Administrator and issue letters of administration to the petitioner, as the record demonstrates that appointing the petitioner as the administrator would not be in the best interests of the decedent’s estate (see Matter of
The petitioner’s remaining contentions are without merit.
Accordingly, the Surrogate’s Court properly denied the petitioner’s motion and issued permanent letters of administration to the Public Administrator. Mastro, J.E, Hall, Lott and Cohen, JJ., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.