If your mother's situation is as you described it here, I would wonder why anyone wants to be administrator of her estate.  It sounds like the only asset is a property that is more of a liability than an asset and all the personal property has already been distributed.  Under these circumstances, I might do nothing about an estate and let the 7 lienholders open an estate to take the property back in foreclosure.If there is money in a retirement account (which is different from a pension - a pension usually ends when a person dies), that money should be paid directly to a named beneficiary.  It usually passes outside any estate.If a final analysis of your mother's assets indicates a good reason to open an estate, you and each of your siblings would have an equal right to be named personal representative of the estate.  The best approach would be for you to agree on one PR.  Your brother is correct that having more than one person serve makes the entire process more difficult and expensive.  Whomever serves as PR must answer to the beneficiaries and be supervised by the court.I hope this helps.