Estate of Heath

166 Cal.App.4th 396 (2008) Estate of JOHANNA A. HEATH, Deceased.

ELKE HARRINGTON, as Administrator, etc., Petitioner and Respondent,

v.

MARK J. SALADINO, as Public Administrator, etc., Objector and Appellant.

No. B201326. Court of Appeals of California, Second District, Division Two.

August 6, 2008. [398] Raymond G. Fortner, Jr., County Counsel, Albert D. Kelly and David F. Skjeie, Principal Deputy County Counsel, for Objector and Appellant.

No appearance for Petitioner and Respondent.

OPINION

ASHMANN-GERST, J.

Mark J. Saladino, a public administrator for the County of Los Angeles (the Public Administrator), challenges a probate court order appointing respondent Elke Harrington (Harrington) administrator of the estate of Johanna A. Heath (the decedent). The Public Administrator contends that Harrington did not "succeed" to a portion of the decedent's estate, as required by Probate Code section 8462, subdivision (a),[1] by virtue [399] of her mother's assignment of a portion of her interest in the estate to Harrington. Rather, succession occurs only by operation of law.

We agree with the Public Administrator. Accordingly, we reverse the probate court order appointing Harrington as the administrator of the decedent's estate and direct the probate court to enter a new and different order appointing the Public Administrator as the estate's administrator.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On October 15, 2006, the decedent, a resident of Baldwin Park, California, died intestate. She was survived by two sisters, Erika Muller and Elisabeth Maierhofer (Maierhofer), five nephews of two predeceased brothers, and Maierhofer's daughter, Harrington. All of the decedent's relatives, except Harrington, live in Germany. Harrington resides in Michigan.