§ 1112. Authority to act

The public administrator in his proper county shall have authority to
take possession of, manage and collect the rents of the real property
and take charge of the personal property of an intestate:

1. Whenever any person not known to have left him surviving a person
eligible to receive letters shall die intestate either within this state
or elsewhere leaving any real or personal property within the county and

2. Whenever any personal property of such intestate shall arrive
within the county after his death.

3. Whenever all of the surviving relatives are not known the public
administrator shall conduct a search for all living distributees of the
decedent by reference to bank, postal, and telephone records and inquiry
of neighbors, and other reasonable steps under the circumstances. The
public administrator shall maintain records of all responses to such
notices.