Public Administrator

Estate and Trust Administration

The Public Administrator Bureau is charged with investigating and administering the estates of Riverside County residents who pass away without someone willing or able to manage their affairs. The powers of the Public Administrator are mandated by the Probate Code of the State of California.

The Public Administrator should be notified by anyone (mortuary, hospital, skilled nursing facility, or private citizen) who has knowledge of an estate of a decedent under the following circumstances:

• Where there are no known next of kin or person with higher authority to act.
• When no executor or administrator has been appointed and the estate is subject to loss, injury, waste, or misappropriation.
• When an heir, or heirs, request to have the Public Administrator administer the estate for them.

Location and Contact

We are located at 800 S. Redlands in the city of Perris, California, or you can call us at 951-443-2300.

Duties and Functions

The Public Administrator has the same duties and functions as a private administrator which include:

• Searching for the decedent’s family.
• Protecting the decedent’s property from waste, loss or theft.
• Conducting thorough investigations to discover all of the decedent’s assets.
• Ensuring all estate benefits are applied for and received.
• Ensuring the estate is administered according to the decedent’s wishes.
• Locating persons entitled to inherit from the estate.
• Making appropriate funeral and burial arrangements.
• Paying the decedent’s bills and taxes.

Indigent Burial and Cremation Program

The Public Administrator has managed the County’s Indigent Burial and Cremation Program since 1986 and currently contracts with Rubidoux Mortuary/Kimberly Family Chapel to provide low-cost cremations and burials to qualified families. These families are required to repay the loan in small increments.