The Public Administrator acts on behalf of the citizens of Lincoln County before the Probate Division of the Lincoln County Circuit Court. The Public Administrator takes charge of the assets of County residents who die without family or a last will and testament. In this capacity, the Public Administrator attends the Probate proceeding for those assets, pays the claims of any creditor of the deceased, and distributes any remaining assets to surviving relatives, if any, or to the of the Treasurer’s Office for Lincoln County.

The Probate Division sometimes appoints the Public Administrator to act as Guardian for the mentally ill or developmentally disabled adults whom the Probate Division has determined are unable to meet their essential needs for food, shelter and clothing. In this capacity, the Public Administrator is called upon to consent to the admission of these Wards to nursing homes and residential care facilities and to see that they receive proper medical, psychiatric and therapeutic care. Currently, the Public Administrator is updating its computer data bases and telephone service so that it is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to serve as Guardian for these four hundred or more citizens of Lincoln County.