ESTATE OF THOMAS RICHARDSON, Deceased (17/868) — On the original return date of this application by the Public Administrator for the issuance of letters of administration in which the petitioner listed as the decedent’s alleged distributees, an unidentified and a whereabouts unknown son, and five alleged siblings, one sister and four brothers one of whose whereabouts are unknown, jurisdiction was obtained over only some of the alleged distributees, and two brothers appeared and stated that there was at least one son surviving the decedent and there was another son who is dead. The matter was marked “supplemental citation” to enable the petitioner to obtain appropriate jurisdiction in this matter. Prior to the issuance of supplemental citation, the petitioner was contacted by a person claiming to be the unidentified and whereabouts unknown son. The petitioner amended the petition to list this person as the decedent’s closest distributee and supplemental citation issued only to the alleged son. On the return date of the supplemental citation, the alleged son appeared and consented to the application, but the matter was adjourned as the siblings who previously appeared, were not advised of the amended petition and the supplemental citation to the now identified alleged son or its return date. The court stated on the record that the son need not appear on the adjourned date. On the adjourned date, while the son did not appear, two alleged siblings appeared, one of whom was a brother who was previously served and previously appeared on the original citation return date and another was a sister over whom jurisdiction had not been obtained. They indicated on the record in open court that the person who identified himself as the alleged son, in fact, was not the decedent’s son. The petitioner and the other persons who were present on the adjourned date agreed on the record in open court that: (1) no objection to the issuance of letters of administration to the Public Administrator is raised at this time; (2) the issue of the identity of the decedent’s distributees is to be determined in the accounting proceeding; and (3) the petitioner is to serve all of the alleged siblings with process in the accounting proceeding.
Based upon the statements on the record, this decision constitutes the order of the court granting the application and directing the Public Administrator to obtain jurisdiction over all the persons listed in the original and the amended petitions, as well as any other party the Public Administrator deems appropriate, in the accounting and any other appropriate proceeding. Accordingly, letters of administration shall issue to the Public Administrator, subject to the provisions in this decision and order.
