New York City

NYC Surrogate’s Court is broken, it should be fixed or abolished

The Public Administrator’s office is part of political patronage in the judicial system.

New York City Councilman Fernando Cabrera.

New York City Councilman Fernando Cabrera. John McCarten/NYC Council

Earlier this week, Crain’s broke a story that Fernando Cabrera, a Bronx city councilman running against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, bought an apartment last year for just $55,000 and is now listing it for $140,000. Cabrera secured the bargain thanks to the Bronx Public Administrator, the office charged with handling the assets of those who die without wills.

New Yorkers who don’t have the misfortune of reckoning with the estate of a loved one know little about the Public Administrator’s office and Surrogate’s Court, where these matters are settled.

And even those who have encountered the institutions before may not know that Democratic Party politics can determine how assets are doled out, especially in boroughs with strong machines - the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn.

The Public Administrator’s office is, as its name describes, a public agency. Each borough has one. But while other city agencies are (relatively) free of obvious partisan politics—civil service reforms instituted decades ago ensure the bureaucrats working there are not directly tied to a politician or political machine—the Public Administrator’s office is not. Under state law, Mayor Bill de Blasio does not appoint the heads of each Public Administrator’s office, like he would for the Department of Transportation or Department of Finance.

Instead, the Surrogate’s judge appoints the public administrator, who is paid through taxpayer money. Each borough has one judge, except for Brooklyn and Manhattan, which have two. All of them are Democrats elected to 14-year terms. Almost of all of them enjoy very close relationships with the local Democratic Party organizations. Those with political connections can earn substantial income administering the estates, some worth millions of dollars, of New Yorkers who die without a will.

Matilde Sanchez, the Bronx public administrator, earned $217,000 in 2019. Her counsel, like all counsels to the public administrator, is chosen by the Surrogate's Judge. This gives the judge, typically a machine ally, a unique power: the ability to decide both the head of a city agency and the chief lawyer who goes to court. Politically-connected lawyers, as has been reported extensively over the years, are more likely to handle estates in Surrogate’s Court.

For probate lawyers looking to boost their incomes, the most prized post is the counsel to the public administrator. Sanchez herself has been a donor to the Bronx Democrats and her deputy, Virna Crespo, is the wife of the chairman of the Bronx Democratic Party, Assemblyman Marcos Crespo. The counsel, Hugh Campbell, has donated to Bronx politicians like Carl Heastie, the Assembly speaker and former county leader, and Vanessa Gibson. In 2010, the Bronx Democratic Party gave Campbell their “Service Award.”

In Queens, the public administrator is Lois Rosenblatt, who was a longtime Democratic Party election lawyer. The Queens Surrogate's Judge appointed her counsel, Gerard Sweeney. Sweeny, who was the law partner to the former county leader Tom Manton, can earn millions of dollars a year in Surrogate’s Court. He remains a power broker in the Queens Democratic Party and was their primary lawyer in a court battle this summer over the Queens district attorney’s race. The Surrogate’s judge, Peter Kelly, is also party player: his sister used to be the chief of staff to Joe Crowley, the Queens Democratic boss who lost his congressional reelection race to Ocasio-Cortez.

 

Brooklyn has its own checkered history with Surrogate’s Court. An employee of the Public Administrator’s office once stole $78,000 from eight estates. A Brooklyn Surrogate judge was booted from the court for corrupt practices in 2005. Another Brooklyn Surrogate, Frank Seddio, who now chairs the Brooklyn Democratic Party, resigned in 2007 over allegations that he misused campaign funds.

While the decline of party machines in New York City has meant a city government largely free of the mass political patronage that was once common during the Tammany Hall era, Surrogate’s Court has changed surprisingly little over the last half century. There are reforms that could be enacted but would require changing state law.

One of the judges in Brooklyn’s Surrogate’s Court, Margarita Lopez-Torres, has urged state lawmakers to actually take away her power to appoint the public administrator and give it to the mayor. Taking politics out of the Surrogate’s judge post entirely could help as well: the state could make the position a mayoral appointee, like a criminal and family court judge, and end the practice of subjecting these judges to typically noncompetitive, party-controlled elections.

On the more radical end, reformers have called for Surrogate’s Court to be abolished entirely, its functions merged with the State Supreme Court. Though unlikely, this move would help consolidate New York’s byzantine court system, one of the most convoluted in America.

Lawmakers of both parties, as well as Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have rarely showed interest in any kind of judicial reform. If politicians have no interest in even mildly reforming the court, best to end it altogether and deprive the friends of the political machines their lucre.

Correction: This article originally misstated how counsels to the public administrator are chosen. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.