Opinion ID: 2184910
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Role of Administrators

Text: Next, Appellants contend that they were authorized to proceed pro se because as administrators of Moore's estate they were vested with broad powers to manage a wrongful-death claim on behalf of the decedent. This argument is entirely contrary to this court's established law regarding the role of administrators. An administrator acting on behalf of an estate does so in a fiduciary capacity. Arkansas Bar Ass'n v. Union Nat'l Bank, 224 Ark. 48, 273 S.W.2d 408 (1954). At issue in that case was whether a bank acting as the personal representative of an estate had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. This court concluded that a person who is not a licensed attorney and who is acting as an administrator, executor or guardian cannot practice law in matters relating to his trusteeship on the theory that he is practicing for himself. Id. at 51-52, 273 S.W.2d at 410. In reaching this conclusion, the court noted that a trustee or personal representative is not acting for himself and in connection with his own affairs, but to the contrary is acting for others who would ordinarily be the beneficiaries. This court further discussed the nature of the administrator's role in Brewer v. Lacefield, 301 Ark. 358, 784 S.W.2d 156 (1990), and stated that an administrator acts only as a trustee of conduit. Id. at 362, 784 S.W.2d at 158 (citing Dukes v. Dukes, 233 Ark. 850, 853, 349 S.W.2d 339, 341 (1961); Ark.Code Ann. § 16-62-102(f) (1987)). This court further explained that proceeds from a wrongful-death action are for the sole benefit of the statutory beneficiaries and are held in trust by the administrator for the benefit of the widow and next of kin. Douglas v. Holbert, 335 Ark. 305, 314, 983 S.W.2d 392, 396 (1998); see also Brewer, 301 Ark. 358, 784 S.W.2d 156. Thus, Appellants as the administrators of Moore's estate were acting on behalf of all the heirs at law when they filed this wrongful-death action. Their attempts to distinguish the above-cited cases on the grounds that no proceeds have yet been awarded are meritless.