IN RE: Martel HOBBINS (2026)

DECISION & ORDER

In a proceeding pursuant to SCPA 1001 to obtain letters of administration for the estate of Martel Hobbins, the petitioner appeals from an order of the Surrogate's Court, Kings County (Bernard J. Graham, S.), dated May 10, 2024.  The order denied the petitioner's motion to extend temporary letters of administration, and granted the oral application of Carol Hobbins to revoke the petitioner's temporary letters of administration and grant temporary letters of administration to Carol Hobbins.

ORDERED that, on the Court's own motion, the notice of appeal from so much of the order as granted the oral application of Carol Hobbins to revoke the petitioner's temporary letters of administration and grant temporary letters of administration to Carol Hobbins is deemed to be an application for leave to appeal from that portion of the order, and leave to appeal is granted (see CPLR 5701[c] );  and it is further,

ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

In September 2022, the petitioner commenced this proceeding to obtain letters of administration for the estate of Martel Hobbins (hereinafter the decedent).  Carol Hobbins objected and cross-petitioned the Surrogate's Court for letters of administration for the same estate on the ground that she is the decedent's surviving spouse.  The petitioner thereafter was issued temporary letters of administration which were set to expire on May 15, 2024.

In May 2024, the petitioner moved to extend the temporary letters of administration.  During a proceeding before the Surrogate's Court, Carol Hobbins asked the court to revoke the petitioner's temporary letters of administration and to issue temporary letters of administration to her.  In an order dated May 10, 2024, the court denied the petitioner's motion, and granted the oral application of Carol Hobbins to revoke the petitioner's temporary letters of administration and grant temporary letters of administration to Carol Hobbins.

SCPA 901(1) provides that temporary letters of administration may be issued if a Surrogate finds it in the best interest of the estate when “for any cause delay occurs in the grant of letters on the estate of a decedent.”  The issuance of such letters is a matter wholly within the discretion of the Surrogate (see SCPA 901[1] ).

The bases for the revocation of temporary letters of administration and declining to extend temporary letters are also matters within the sound discretion of the Surrogate's Court as to the best interest of the estate (see SCPA 901[1];  Matter of Nelson, 40 Misc.3d 1218 [A] ).

SCPA 1001, which sets forth the priority for the issuance of letters of administration, unequivocally provides that the surviving spouse has priority over all other distributees of the intestate (see id. § 1001[1][a] ).

Here, the Surrogate's Court providently exercised its discretion in denying the petitioner's motion to extend his temporary letters of administration and granting Carol Hobbins's oral application to revoke those letters in light of the priority a surviving spouse has with respect to intestacy of a decedent, since the petitioner failed to show that there are no issues of fact as to whether Carol Hobbins was the surviving spouse of the decedent at the time of his death (see Matter of Pilapil, 172 AD3d 1073, 1075;  Matter of Jordan, 89 AD3d 1085).  For the same reasons, the court providently exercised its discretion in granting temporary letters of administration to Carol Hobbins (see Matter of Morris, 69 AD3d 635, 636, 893 NYS2d 161).

The petitioner's remaining contentions are without merit.

DUFFY, J.P., CONNOLLY, LOVE and QUIRK, JJ., concur.