Can the administrator of my late relative's estate actually file or defend a lawsuit on the deceased's behalf, for property or rights that belonged to the deceased?

Standing to sue in the deceased's shoes

Death does not automatically extinguish every legal claim the deceased could have pursued, or every claim that could have been pursued against them, and someone has to be able to act on those claims for the estate's benefit. The rule gives the executor or administrator standing to bring or defend actions in the right of the deceased, for the recovery or protection of the deceased's property or rights, letting the estate's representative litigate matters the deceased themselves could no longer pursue in person. Without this rule, a claim could effectively vanish the moment the person entitled to bring it died, leaving wrongdoers unaccountable and the estate's assets permanently unrecovered.

Limited to surviving causes of action

This authority is not unlimited; it covers actions for causes which survive the deceased's death, meaning claims the law treats as continuing to exist despite the decedent's passing, rather than every conceivable dispute the deceased might once have been personally involved in at some earlier point during their own lifetime. Purely personal claims, ones that die with the person, such as certain torts tied specifically to the deceased's own person rather than their property, fall outside this authority, so the administrator's litigation power tracks what the law recognizes as still alive after death, not everything the deceased was ever party to.

Why the survivorship limit exists

Confining the administrator's litigation power to surviving causes of action keeps the estate proceeding focused on property and rights that can still be recovered or protected for the heirs and creditors, rather than turning administration into a vehicle for reviving disputes the law considers closed by the deceased's death itself. It also means opposing parties are not exposed to litigation risk on claims the law has already treated as extinguished. The same reasoning applies whether the estate is the plaintiff pursuing a claim or the defendant answering one brought against the deceased before death. An administrator who wins such a recovery is bound to account for it as estate property in the settlement of accounts, not as a personal windfall; failing to report a recovery obtained through litigation exposes the administrator to surcharge for the amount concealed, on the same footing as any other unaccounted estate asset.

Related provisions

• Rule 87, Section 2 — Executor or administrator may bring or defend actions which survive
• Rule 87, Section 4 — Executor or administrator may compound with debtor