General powers of temporary administrator

§ 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.