Gale Encyclopedia Of American Law 3Rd Edition Volume 6 P32 pps

LENIN, VLADIMIR ILYICH Vladimir Ilyich Lenin founded the Russian Communist party and led the 1917 Russian Revolution, which placed the Bolshevik party in charge of the government.. A pai

the manufacturer would have notice of the defect when the dealer requests reimbursement from the manufacturer for the repair

After a consumer invokes the lemon law, the parties arbitrate the matter in an attempt to resolve it Some statutes provide for a state-run arbitration process Others provide for arbitra-tion provided by private groups such as the Better Business Bureau or even a manufacturer-sponsored panel Arbitration is an informal trial with a panel or individual deciding the matter

Each side tells its story Mechanics might testify

on behalf of either side Lawyers are not required but may increase a consumer’s likeli-hood of prevailing or settling prior to the arbitration hearing

According to one report, fewer than 10 percent of the cases handled by a manufacturer-sponsored panel are decided in the consumer’s favor Consumers tend to fare slightly better in cases handled by the Better Business Bureau and fare best of all under state-run arbitration procedures An early 1990s survey of three states with state-run arbitration found that consumers were awarded a full refund or replacement car in

at least half of the cases Many states make the arbitrator’s decision binding on the

manufactur-er but not on the consummanufactur-er

During arbitration automakers frequently argue that the consumer abused the car or failed

to service the vehicle properly or that the defect does not substantially affect the car’s safety or value For this reason consumers should save all documentation about a vehicle and should keep meticulous records of all service problems One owner of a top-of-the-line luxury car succeeded

in arbitration for a whining noise in the air conditioner because an advertising brochure promised that the car would be a soothing and calming haven

States vary on whether the manufacturer or the consumer chooses the remedy A lemon owner is entitled to a refund of the vehicle’s purchase price, including SALES TAX, license, and fees, or a new, comparable car—minus a deduction for the value of the owner’s use of the lemon Some states also provide that the manufacturer reimburse the owner’s attorney’s fees and costs for bringing the lawsuit

Used-car purchasers must also be wary of lemons Once a lemon has been repurchased by the manufacturer, either voluntarily or pursuant

to an arbitrator’s or judge’s decision, scant

protections prevent its resale elsewhere States vary greatly on how much information must be disclosed to subsequent purchasers Some states require the title of a lemon to carry a notation reflecting the lemon status The notation varies from “nonconforming vehicle” to “defect sub-stantially impairs use, value, or safety.” A handful

of states require that buyback stickers be placed

on the vehicle However, enforcement of such requirements is often a low priority for state governments, and enforcement of lemon laws effectively ends at a state’s border In response to complaints about resold lemons, in 1996 the

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION(FTC) began investigat-ing the possibility of imposinvestigat-ing a national standard for the resale of lemons However, the FTC did not take action after completing its inquiry

FURTHER READINGS Clark, Barkley, and Christopher Smith 1984 Cumm Supp.

2005 The Law of Product Warranties Eagan, MN: West Fisk, Alan 2002 “Lemon Lawsuits: Litigation over Bad Cars, Including Class Actions, Is on the Rise across the U.S ” The National Law Journal 24 (January 14) A1 Gillis, Jack 2009 The Car Book New York: Gillis Publishing Group.

Kaye, Richard L 1990 Lemon-Aid: Exercising Your Rights under the Automobile Lemon Laws New York: New Directions.

Nader, Ralph, Lowell Dodge, and Ralf Hotchkiss 2001 What to Do with Your Bad Car: An Action Manual for Lemon Owners New York: Viking.

Reitz, Curtis R., and Paul A Wolkin 1987 Consumer Product Warranties under Federal and State Laws 2d ed Philadelphia: American Law Institute –American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education.

Winder, Donald J and John Warren May 2002 “Recent Developments in Automobile Law.” Tort & Insurance Law Journal 37 (winter).

CROSS REFERENCE Automobiles.

LEND-LEASE ACT Enacted by Congress in 1941 theLEND-LEASE ACT

empowered the president to sell, transfer, lend,

or lease war supplies—such as equipment, food, and weapons—to American allies duringWORLD WAR II In exchange for the valuable assistance provided under the Lend-Lease Act (55 Stat 31 [1941]), the Allies were to comply with the terms set by the president for repayment The Office of Lend-Lease Administration was

creat-ed pursuant to the act to oversee the imple-mentation of the program, but this function was later transferred to the STATE DEPARTMENT

298 LEND-LEASE ACT

Although the Lend-Lease Act was enacted to

provide aid to China and the British Empire,

eligibility under its provisions was expanded to

include all Allies who were essential to the

maintenance of the security of the United

States Subsequent reciprocal agreements with

countries where American troops were

sta-tioned provided that the troops would receive

comparable aid while stationed there President

HARRY TRUMAN ended the lend-lease program

in 1945

LENIN, VLADIMIR ILYICH

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin founded the Russian

Communist party and led the 1917 Russian

Revolution, which placed the Bolshevik party in

charge of the government The establishment of

the Soviet Union can be traced to Lenin’s study

of revolution and the ruthless imposition of a

one-party state based on Lenin’s interpretation

of Marxism The Russian Revolution also

profoundly affected U.S society and politics

Lenin was born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov on

April 22, 1870, in Simbirsk, a town on the Volga

River The son of a government official, Lenin

was a bright student He entered Kazan

University at Kazan in 1887 That same year

his brother Alexander Ulyanov was hanged for

taking part in an unsuccessful plot to kill Czar

Alexander III, of Russia Lenin was deeply

influenced by his brother’s actions Within

three months, he was expelled from school for

protesting the lack of freedom in the university

He moved to St Petersburg and entered St

Petersburg University, from which he graduated

with a law degree in 1891

During his academic period, Lenin studied

the works of KARL MARX and his political

philosophy, Marxism In 1893 Lenin joined

the Social Democratic group, which believed in

Marxist principles A gifted writer and speaker,

Lenin soon traveled to Western Europe to meet

with other Marxists He was arrested by the

czar’s police in 1896 for revolutionary activities

and sent into Siberian exile in 1897 During his

exile Lenin wrote one of his most important

works, The Development of Capitalism in Russia

(1899)

Lenin was allowed to leave Russia in 1900

He traveled to Germany, where he began writing

for a revolutionary newspaper called Zarya

(Dawn), which was smuggled into Russia He

took the pen name Lenin at this time, hoping to

confuse the police In 1902 he wrote what is considered a masterpiece of revolutionary orga-nization, What Is to Be Done? In this work Lenin advocated the use of a highly disciplined party of professional revolutionaries to lead the masses in

an uprising against czarist Russia This revolu-tionary party would serve as the“vanguard of the proletariat.” It would also assume supreme control during this revolutionary period

Disputes within Russian revolutionary cir-cles over Lenin’s ideas led to a split in 1903 between Lenin’s Bolshevik party and the Menshevik party, which favored moderation

Bolsheviks followed Lenin’s instructions to commit acts of TERRORISM within Russia They also worked hard to organize TRADE UNION

members and Russian sailors and soldiers

During most ofWORLD WAR ILenin stayed in Switzerland When revolution broke out in Russia in March 1917, Lenin returned with the

Under the Lend-Lease Act, U.S equipment, food, and weapons were sent to allies during World War II, including these crates

of TNT being stacked

by British soldiers CORBIS.

LENIN, VLADIMIR ILYICH 299

aid of Germany, which hoped he would gain power and agree to a peace treaty Accused of being a German AGENT by the provisional government, Lenin fled to Finland He returned

to Russia secretly in October 1917 and led the October Revolution, which toppled the provisional government and placed the Bolshe-viks in charge

Once in power Lenin moved quickly to eliminate all political opposition He organized the Red Army (named after the color of the flag of the world Communist movement) The Red Army fought aCIVIL WARwith the Whites, who opposed one-party and one-man rule by Lenin The civil war ended in 1922, with the defeat of the White Army During this period the U.S government supported the Whites, fearing that the Russian Revolution was a prelude to further Communist revolutions in Europe This fear seemed confirmed in 1919 when Lenin formed the Communist Interna-tional to export revolution to the rest of the world

In 1919 and 1920, U.S anxiety about the Russian Revolution and the dictatorship of Lenin produced a national hysteria that has come to be known as the first RED SCARE PresidentWOODROW WILSON’s attorney general A Mitchell Palmer created an antiradicalism unit and appointedJ.EDGAR HOOVERto run it In late

1919 and early 1920, Palmer raided suspected revolutionaries and subversives Most of these suspects were not U.S citizens The largest

“Palmer raid” occurred on January 2, 1920, when 6,000 people were arrested Palmer’s agents abused the constitutional rights of these people, searching homes without warrants, holding individuals without giving specific charges, and refusing access to legal counsel Many aliens were deported because of their radical political views

Lenin’s revolutionary zeal was tempered by the need to defeat the Whites and to establish a national government in the wake of the loss of lives and resources in World War I Faced with economic ruin, Lenin instituted in March 1921 his New Economic Policy This policy aban-doned many socialist measures and permitted the growth of small businesses Lenin also tried

to get the United States and Europe to invest in the Soviet Union, but was refused because the Soviets had repudiated all foreign debts The United States did, however, through its Com-mission for Relief, provide large amounts of food that may have helped save hundreds of thousands of lives

Lenin’s last years were marked by failing health and a concern about the direction of the Communist party and the Soviet Union He worried about the increasing strength of the political bureaucracy and about Joseph Stalin’s plottings to succeed him In May 1922 he suffered a stroke, then returned to work against his doctor’s advice He suffered additional strokes in November 1922 and March 1923, the last one destroying his ability to speak clearly Lenin died January 24, 1924, physically unable to appoint his successor His body was preserved using special chemicals and placed in

a tomb on Red Square in Moscow

FURTHER READINGS Lenin, Vladimir 2004 The State and Revolution Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Available online at http://www marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index htm; website home page: http://www.marxists.org (accessed August 7, 2009).

Vladimir Lenin.

300 LENIN, VLADIMIR ILYICH

——— 2002 Revolution at the Gates: A Selection of Writings

from February to October 1917 by V.I Lenin London,

England: Verso.

Service, Robert 2002 Lenin: A Biography Cambridge, MA:

Harvard Univ Press.

CROSS REFERENCE

Communism.

LEOPOLD AND LOEB TRIAL

In 1924, the city of Chicago, Illinois, was

shocked by the brutal and senseless murder of

adolescent Bobby Franks The crime resulted in

a sensational murder trial wherein eminent

attorney CLARENCE DARROW achieved a brilliant

victory despite an overwhelming amount of

incriminating evidence

Nathan Leopold (b November 19, 1904, in

Chicago, Illinois; d August 29, 1971, in San

Juan, Puerto Rico), age 19, and Richard Loeb (b

June 11, 1905, in Chicago, Illinois; d January

28, 1936, in Joliet, Illinois), age 18, college

students from wealthy families, were regarded

as unusually intelligent Their extraordinary

reasoning powers compelled them to construct

and execute the perfect crime They decided

that kidnapping and murder would challenge

their mental capacities to the fullest

The two young men plotted their crime in

1923 They chose the names Louis Mason and

Morton Ballard as aliases and successfully stole

a typewriter from the University of Michigan to

type a ransom note that would be difficult, if

not impossible, to trace By 1924 they had

perfected their plan and accumulated their

other necessities, including a chisel and acid

Leopold and Loeb chose their victim by

chance The ransom note, already typed, had

not been addressed to anyone in particular,

because the abduction of their victim would be

a spontaneous happening On May 21, 1924,

Leopold and Loeb drove around in a rented car

near the Harvard School, a private preparatory

school in the Kenwood area of Chicago’s south

side The first possible victim was a youth

named Levinson, who was an acquaintance of

the two kidnappers They drove around the

block but lost sight of him The next student

they saw was 14-year-old Bobby Franks Bobby

Franks knew Leopold and Loeb from

the neighborhood, and when the two college

students offered Bobby a ride home, the boy

accepted Once he was in the car he was

bludgeoned to death with a chisel On the way

to dispose of the body, the two killers stopped for something to eat They then proceeded to a deserted area of Chicago, where they dumped Bobby’s body They buried his clothes and poured acid on his face to hinder positive identification

The Franks family was frantic with worry over their missing son Leopold and Loeb began a ritual of telephone calls promising Bobby’s safe return upon receipt of $10,000 A ransom note delivered the next day confirmed this demand

As Mr Franks was leaving to deliver the ransom money as directed by the kidnappers, he was notified that his son’s body had been found

An extensive police investigation ensued, but Leopold and Loeb had cleverly disposed of all evidence The two men followed the events of the frustrating investigation and joined in local discussions concerning the case

There was one flaw in the perfect crime, and that was human frailty A pair of glasses had

Richard Loeb (left) and Nathan Leopold committed a murder that shocked Chicago

in the 1920s They later confessed, but prominent lawyer Clarence Darrow won life sentences rather than the death penalty for both of them.

AP IMAGES LEOPOLD AND LOEB TRIAL 301

been discovered near the site of the murdered boy’s body, and the prescription was traced to Nathan Leopold Unperturbed, Leopold stated that he had been with his friend Richard Loeb

on the day of the murder, and they had spent the day driving around Chicago in the car owned by the Leopold family The glasses were lost during a day of birdwatching, which Leopold often pursued in conjunction with an ornithology class he was teaching Because they were seldom used, he had not noticed that the glasses were missing Leopold’s story was feasible, and his upstanding family and educa-tional background added to his credibility; he was released

More evidence began to emerge against Leopold and Loeb as the investigation contin-ued A paper typed by Leopold for a class was discovered, and when it was compared to the typewritten ransom note, the type was suspi-ciously similar Further investigation revealed that the Leopold family car, which Leopold and Loeb supposedly used the day of the murder, had not left the garage; this information was corroborated by the family chauffeur

Loeb panicked and confessed, forcing Leo-pold to do the same They admitted that they had killed the boy for the excitement of committing a crime

The case against Leopold and Loeb was airtight The confessions were authentic, and further evidence was elicited from the two men

The families of the killers appealed to promi-nent lawyer Clarence Darrow to defend the accused murderers

Darrow opposed the idea at first, but felt that Leopold and Loeb would be convicted more on an emotional level than on legal expertise Darrow knew they were guilty but agreed to attempt to secure a sentence other than the applicable death penalty

The case came to court on July 21, 1924

Darrow requested that the case be decided solely

by a judge, without a jury Judge John R

Caverly consented

Leopold and Loeb pleaded guilty They had been examined by psychiatrists and declared legally sane Darrow decided that since he could not argue that they were insane, he would try to prove that the two men were mentally diseased, which would not excuse their guilt but could be

a mitigating factor in their sentencing Darrow

appealed to the mercy of the court in deciding the punishment for Leopold and Loeb

The judge deliberated for ten days before rendering his decision Leopold and Loeb were spared the death sentence and received sen-tences of life imprisonment

FURTHER READINGS Geis, Gilbert Geis, and Leigh B Bienen 2000 Crimes of the Century: From Leopold and Loeb to O J Simpson Boston: Northeastern Univ Press.

Newman, Stephen A 2000 “Leopold and Loeb.” New York Law Journal 223 (February 16).

Payment, Simone 2004 The Trial of Leopold and Loeb: A Primary Source Account New York: Rosen.

Sellers, Alvin V 2003 The Loeb-Leopold Case: With Excerpts from the Evidence of the Alienists and Including the Arguments to the Court by Counsel for the People and the Defense Clark, NJ: Lawbook Exchange Available online at http://www.archive.org/details/loebleopolD.C asew00loeb; website home page: http://www.archive.org (accessed August 7, 2009).

LESBIAN RIGHTS See GAY AND LESBIAN RIGHTS

LESS DRASTIC MEANS TEST See LEAST RESTRICTIVE MEANS TEST

LESSEE One who rents real property or personal property from another

A lessee of land is a tenant

CROSS REFERENCE Landlord and Tenant.

LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSE

A lesser crime whose elements are encompassed by

a greater crime

A lesser included offense shares some, but not all, of the elements of a greater criminal offense Therefore, the greater offense cannot be committed without also committing the lesser offense For example, manslaughter is a lesser included offense of murder, ASSAULT is a lesser included offense of RAPE, and unlawful entry is a lesser included offense of burglary The rules ofCRIMINAL PROCEDUREpermit two

or more offenses to be charged together, regardless of whether they are misdemeanors

or felonies, provided that the crimes are of a similar character and based on the same act or common plan This permits prosecutors to

302 LESBIAN RIGHTS

charge the greater offense and the lesser

included offense together Although the offenses

can be charged together, the accused cannot be

found guilty of both offenses because they are

both parts of the same crime (the lesser offense

is part of the greater offense)

When a defendant is charged with a greater

offense and one or more lesser included

offenses, the trial court is generally required

to give the jury instructions as to each of the

lesser included offenses as well as the greater

offense However, a defendant may waive his

or her right to have the jury so instructed If

the jury finds guiltBEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT

as to a lesser included offense, but finds

REASONABLE DOUBT as to the defendant’s guilt

with regard to the greater offense, the court

should instruct the jury that it may convict on

the lesser charge

It is not uncommon for a prosecutor and

defendant to negotiate an agreement by which

the defendant pleads guilty to the lesser included

offense either before the trial begins or before

the jury returns a verdict Such a plea

negotia-tion is generally acceptable to the prosecuting

attorney because the evidence establishing guilt

for the lesser included offense is usually strong

The defendant is generally willing to make such

an agreement because the lesser included

offense carries a less severe sentence

The notion of lesser included offenses

developed from the common-law doctrine of

merger In the past, felony and misdemeanor

trials involved different procedural rights The

merger doctrine determined an individual’s

procedural rights at trial if the individual was

charged with both a felony and a lesser included

misdemeanor In that circumstance the

misde-meanor was considered to have merged with the

felony, and felony procedural rights applied

The merger doctrine has been repudiated in

modern U.S law because an accused’s

proce-dural rights are essentially the same whether the

accused is charged with a misdemeanor or a

felony

FURTHER READINGS

Bergman, Barbara E., Teri Duncan, Nancy Hollander, and

Melissa Stephenson 2009 Wharton’s Criminal

Proce-dure 14th ed Vol 4 Eagan, MN: West.

Holten, N Gary, and Lawson L Lamar 1991 The Criminal

Courts: Structures, Personnel, and Processes New York:

McGraw-Hill.

Torcia, Charles E 1995 Wharton’s Criminal Law New York:

Clark Boardman Callaghan.

CROSS REFERENCES Criminal Law; Plea Bargaining.

LESSOR One who rents real property or personal property

to another

A lessor of land is a landlord

CROSS REFERENCE Landlord and Tenant.

LET

To lease certain property

CROSS REFERENCE Public Contract.

LETTER OF CREDIT

A written instrument from a bank or merchant in one location that requests that anyone or a specifically named party advance money or items

on credit to the party holding or named in the document

When aLETTER OF CREDITis used, repayment

of the debti s guaranteed by the bank or merchant issuing it For example, if a bank is aware that a prominent citizen is trustworthy and can safely be relied upon to settle the debts which he or she incurs, then a letter of credit will be offered to that person on the basis of his

or her good reputation so the person can travel without carrying large sums of money Letters

of credit were used frequently before credit cards and travelers’ checks were in common usage

LETTER OF THE LAW The strict and exact force of the language used in a statute, as distinguished from the spirit, general purpose, and policy of the statute

LETTER RULING

In tax law a written interpretation of certain provisions of federal statutes by the Office of the Assistant Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service

Tax laws are often the subject of dispute between U.S taxpayers and the INTERNAL REVE-NUE SERVICE(IRS) Authority for interpreting the laws, which are found in the INTERNAL REVENUE CODE, rests with regional IRS agents, who have

LETTER RULING 303

A sample irrevocable

letter of credit.

ILLUSTRATION BY GGS

CREATIVE RESOURCES.

REPRODUCED BY

PERMISSION OF GALE,

A PART OF CENGAGE

LEARNING.

We, , hereby establish in favor of the State of West Virginia for the use of the Tax Commissioner of the State of West Virginia our Irrevocable Letter of Credit available by draft of the State Tax Commissioner drawn at this Bank at our banking house in , for sums not exceeding _, for the account of _,to provide indemnification

to the Tax Commissioner adequate to secure compliance with the provisions of Chapter 11 of the West Virginia Code.

1 Hereunder are available to you, or your successor as Tax Commissioner, by drafts of the Tax Commissioner drawn on us if presented on or before Drafts must be marked “Drawn Under Letter of Credit No , dated .”

2 Any draft hereunder shall be accompanied by a written certification by the Tax Commissioner that _ has failed to comply with the provisions of Chapter 11 of the West Virginia Code, that the Tax Commissioner has given _ , 15 days written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested,

of the default by in payment of any assessment which has become final and not subject to further appeal, and that _ , has not cured such default within such fifteen day period.

3 All drafts drawn under and in compliance with the terms of this Letter of Credit will be duly honored upon delivery of documents as specified if presented on or before the current or a future date of expiration.

4 This Letter of Credit shall be automatically extended for additional periods of one year from the present or each future expiration date unless we notify you by certified mail, return receipt requested, at the above address at least thirty (30) days prior

to the expiration date of this Letter of Credit that we intend not to extend it for another year (less one day) or to replace it with another similar Letter of Credit, and that following such notice you may immediately draw against this Letter of Credit, notwithstanding the provisions of Paragraph 2.

Irrevocable Letter of Credit

Date:

(Current Commissioner)

Tax Commissioner Capitol Building, W-300 Charleston, West Virginia 25305

RE: IRREVOCABLE LETTER OF CREDIT NO.

Very truly yours,

_

(Financial Institution)

By:

WV/BRT-LOC Rev 2/97

Dear Commissioner _:

(Financial institution)

(City) (Amount)

(Taxpayer)

(Funds)

(Date)

(Taxpayer)

(Taxpayer)

(Taxpayer)

(Taxpayer)

304 LETTER OF CREDIT

the power to review tax returns through an

audit If a taxpayer disagrees with an

interpre-tation of the law, she or he may ask the national

IRS office to issue a ruling on the point of

contention This statement is called a private

LETTER RULING

Because of the time and expense involved in

preparing a request for a letter ruling, such a

request is seldom made The taxpayer must

submit a complete record of the transaction in

dispute, including a justification for the

trans-action, all pertinent documents, the section of

the tax code in question, and any relevant IRS

regulations, rulings, and court precedents

Letter rulings are issued by the Office of the

Assistant Commissioner of the IRS They are

numbered—for example, Private Letter Ruling

8616003 Each discusses the applicable facts

before the IRS as well as the IRS ruling, but does

not name the individual or organization that

requested the ruling After the ruling is issued to

the regional office and the taxpayer, it is

published by the IRS Several thousand letter

rulings are issued annually

The legal value of a letter ruling is extremely

limited The ruling applies only to the taxpayer

who requested it and only for the year in which

it is issued; federal tax law states that a letter

ruling may not be used or cited by another

taxpayer (I.R.C § 6110(j)(3)) If the ruling

favors the taxpayer, the regional IRS AGENT is

bound by it If the ruling is adverse, the taxpayer

can submit the issue to a tax court

Since the 1930s courts have refused to give

precedential weight to letter rulings In the 1989

case of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity v

Commis-sioner of Internal Revenue, 887 F.2d 1302 (6th

Cir.), a national fraternity appealing an order of

the U.S Tax Court based part of its argument

on several letter rulings In affirming the Tax

Court’s decision, the appellate court described

the weight courts are to give letter rulings:

“Although private letter rulings are helpful in

determining the contours of tax statutes and

may be considered when evaluating the

consis-tency of application of statutes, such letter

rulings have no precedential effect.”

Despite the limited application of letter

rulings, they are widely read by tax attorneys

Specialists use them to keep abreast of IRS

interpretation, and the documents are available

from electronic databases

FURTHER READINGS Banoff, Sheldon I., and Richard M Lipton, eds 1992.

“Letter Ruling Held Relevant Authority in Malpractice Case ” Journal of Taxation 82 (April).

“How to Obtain a Private Letter Ruling on a Tax Issue from the IRS? ” 2009 WorldWideWeb Tax Web site Available online at http://www.wwwebtax.com/audits/private_

letter_ruling.htm; website home page: http://www.

wwwebtax.com (accessed September 6, 2009).

Jellum, Linda D 2008 Mastering Statutory Interpretation.

Raleigh, NC: Carolina Academic.

Kanter, Burton W., and Sheldon I Banoff, eds 1992.

“Associate Chief Counsel Speaks Out on Letter Rulings ” Journal of Taxation 76 (January).

Kaplin, William A., and Barbara A Lee 2009 A Legal Guide for Student Affairs Professionals San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

CROSS REFERENCES Income Tax; Taxation.

LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION

A formal document issued by a court of probate appointing a manager of the assets and liabilities

of the estate of the deceased in certain situations

Courts are often asked to rule on the management of a deceased person’s estate

Generally, this is a routine matter for probate courts, which are created specifically for this purpose Individuals generally determine the distribution of their estate in a will, which usually specifies an executor to carry out its directions But where the decedent has left no will or the executor named in a will is unable or unwilling to serve, the courts must appoint an administrator This appointment is made by issuing a short document called letters of administration, which is a decree that serves as evidence of the administrator’s authority

When an individual dies intestate (without a valid will or with no will at all), issues must be resolved involving the disposal of the decedent’s property, the settlement of debts and claims against the estate, the payment of estate taxes, and in particular the distribution of the estate to heirs who are legally entitled to receive it These matters are resolved by following the laws of

DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION, which are found in the statutes of all states Essentially, these laws divide the decedent’s property according to well-established rules of inheritance based on blood relations, ADOPTION, or MARRIAGE In the case of a person who has died intestate, the probate court appoints an administrator to distribute the property according to the relevant descent and distribution statutes

LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION 305

A sample decree

granting letters of

administration.

Granting Letters of Administration

SURROGATE'S COURT - COUNTY CITATION THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK,

by the Grace of God Free and Independent,

TO

A petition having been duly filed by _ , who is domiciled at _ YOU ARE HEREBY CITED TO SHOW CAUSE before the Surrogate's Court, County, at _, New York, on _ , 20 at _o'clock in the noon of that day, why a decree should not be made in the estate of _ lately domiciled at _

in the County of _ , New York, granting Letters of Administration upon the estate of the decedent to _or to such other person as may be entitled thereto.

(State any further relief requested)

_ , 20 _ (Seal)

Chief Clerk

Name of Attorney for Petitioner Tel No _ Address of Attorney _

Note: This citation is served upon you as required by law You are not required to appear If you fail to appear it will be assumed you do not object to the relief requested You have a right to have an attorney-at-law appear for you.

[continued]

306 LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION

Granting Letters of Administration

SURROGATE'S COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

COUNTY OF

X

ADMINISTRATION PROCEEDING

LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION (SCPA 1005) a/k/a

X File No _

Notice is Hereby Given That:

(1) an application for Letters of Administration upon the estate of the above-named decedent, has been made by _

, petitioner,

whose post office address is:

(2) each and every name of the intestate decedent known to the undersigned is as indicated in the above caption.

(3) petitioner prays that a decree be made directing the issuance of Letters of Administration to _

_

(4) the name and post office address of each and every distributee of the above-named decedent, as set forth in the petition and known

to the undersigned, are as follows:

(a) Distributees who have been duly cited, have waived citation or have appeared in this proceeding:

Name of Distributee Domicile and Post Office Address

_

_

_

(b) Other Distributees;

Name of Distributee Domicile and Post Office Address

_

_

_

(CONTINUE ON REVERSE SIDE IF MORE SPACE NEEDED)

(5) That the undersigned does not know of any other distributees of the said decedent.

(6) That Letters of Administration will issue on or after , 20 _

Dated: _ , 20 _

Tel No

Deceased

Attorney for Petitioner

Signature of Petitioner or Attorney

Print Name

[continued]

A sample decree granting letters of administration (continued) LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION 307