In re the Estate of Eisenstein

On October 3, 1987, the 16-year-old decedent, who resided with his mother in Long Beach, New York, died as a result of a fire at their home. The decedent’s father is divorced from the mother and resides in Mexico. Thereafter, the mother petitioned the Surrogate for the granting of limited letters of administration for the purposes of commencing an action on behalf of the infant’s estate to recover damages, inter alia, for wrongful death. The father cross-petitioned for the issuance of *598joint letters of administration so that he could seek appointment as a coadministrator of the estate.

We…