Short answer. Generally yes — costs an administrator pays under a court award are allowed in the administration account, unless the action or proceeding that generated them was prosecuted or resisted without just cause and not in good faith on the administrator's part.

What the law says

The amount paid by an executor or administrator for costs awarded against him shall be allowed in his administration account, unless it appears that the action or proceeding in which the costs are taxed was prosecuted or resisted without just cause, and not in good faith.

Rule 85, Section 6 — When allowed money paid as costs. Read the full provision →

Costs are normally reimbursable through the account

Litigation is an ordinary part of administering an estate, whether the administrator is defending it against claims or pursuing claims on its behalf, and losing a particular skirmish does not automatically mean the administrator personally absorbs the resulting costs. As a rule, amounts the administrator pays for costs awarded against them are allowed in the administration account, effectively reimbursed out of the estate. That protection extends to costs taxed against the administrator in either an ordinary civil action or a special proceeding tied to settling the estate, reflecting that some litigation is simply unavoidable in the course of administering a decedent's affairs.

The bad-faith exception

That reimbursement is not unconditional. It is denied where it appears the action or proceeding that generated the costs was prosecuted or resisted without just cause and not in good faith, so an administrator who litigates recklessly or vexatiously, rather than in the estate's genuine interest, bears those particular costs personally instead of passing them on to the estate. Both conditions have to be present together — a lack of just cause alone, or bad faith alone, is not enough to strip the reimbursement; the rule requires the litigation to have been both unjustified and pursued in bad faith before the cost falls on the administrator individually. Good faith is judged from the administrator's own perspective at the time the litigation was undertaken, not by hindsight after the case is lost.

Who bears the risk when litigation goes wrong

When the exception applies, the administrator answers for the costs out of their own pocket, not the estate's assets, so heirs and beneficiaries are not made to fund litigation the administrator pursued or resisted for improper reasons. That personal exposure is meant to discourage using the estate's resources to wage unjustified legal fights at the expense of the very heirs the administrator is supposed to serve. Good-faith litigation, by contrast, remains a normal estate expense like any other.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.