§ 1118. Powers before issuance of letters

Before letters are issued to him and subject to the provisions of
section 1128 of this article the public administrator is authorized to:

1. Take possession of, collect and secure the personal property within
his county of any person who shall die intestate or testate within this
state or elsewhere or whose property shall arrive with the county after
his death whenever there is no person eligible to act as fiduciary of an
intestate or of a testator, if the executor named in the will refuses or
neglects to act or is dead or his whereabouts are unknown or if he is
not eligible to receive letters.

2. Take possession of, manage and collect the rents of the real
property of an intestate whose distributees are unknown or, whose
distributees if known, are non-domiciliaries or of a testator if the
executor named in the will refuses or neglects to act or is dead or his
whereabouts are unknown or if he is not eligible to receive letters.

3. Pay the funeral expenses of the decedent.

4. Sell as and when authorized by the court perishable property or
such other property of the decedent as the preservation of the estate
requires.

5. Sell at public auction all property delivered to him as the effects
of persons whose deaths have been reported to him by the department of
hospitals, the police department or any other department or person.

6. Defray the expenses of the foregoing activities and the expenses
incidental to his application for letters.