The administrator of my late relative's estate says the deceased actually owed them money personally — how can they pursue that claim when they're also the one running the estate?

You can't be both claimant and gatekeeper

An administrator who is also personally owed money by the deceased cannot fairly sit in judgment on their own claim, since the same person would effectively be deciding whether to pay themselves out of estate funds meant for all of the heirs and creditors. The rule addresses that conflict directly rather than leaving it to the administrator's own discretion or good faith, because self-interest and fiduciary duty point in opposite directions the moment the administrator becomes a creditor of the very estate they control.

A special administrator steps in

The administrator must give the court written notice of the claim, and the court then appoints a special administrator specifically to handle the adjustment of that claim, wielding the same power and subject to the same liability as the general administrator would have in settling any other creditor's claim against the estate. Written notice ensures the court, and not the administrator alone, controls when and how the conflicted claim gets examined, and it creates a record the other heirs and creditors can rely on.

Funding the defense against the claim

So the estate's side of the dispute is not left unfunded, the court may order the executor or administrator to pay the special administrator whatever funds are necessary to defend the claim, ensuring the estate's interest is actually represented in the adjustment rather than conceded by default for lack of resources. Without this funding mechanism, a well-resourced administrator-creditor could effectively overpower an underfunded special administrator, defeating the very purpose of appointing someone independent to examine the claim in the first place.

Why notice has to come first

Notice must precede adjustment, not follow it: the rule only lets a special administrator step in once the administrator has formally disclosed the personal claim to the court. That sequencing prevents an administrator from quietly favoring their own claim over other creditors' claims and only revealing the conflict later, if someone else happens to notice it. Requiring written disclosure up front also means the other heirs and creditors are not left to discover the conflict on their own, well after the administrator may already have taken steps to favor it.

Related provisions

• Rule 86, Section 8 — Claim of executor or administrator against an estate
• Rule 86, Section 10 — Answer of executor or administrator. Offsets