Surrogate Scarpino
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THE PUBLIC administrator, in this uncontested proceeding to settle his final account, requested to allow a 15 percent finder’s fee to Venio LLC for locating abandoned and unclaimed assets. The court noted there was no written agreement between Venio and the administrator for the payment of a fee, nor have the terms of the alleged oral agreement been established. Venio argued that notwithstanding the absence of a written agreement, the court should allow it a finder’s fee as its services benefitted the estate. The court stated that the law was clear in that an oral agreement to pay a finder’s fee for locating assets held by the comptroller was invalid. The court noted that pursuant to Abandoned Property Law §1416, as Venio did not have a written agreement with the administrator, the request to pay Venio a fee for locating abandoned funds held by the comptroller was denied. It also found that an oral agreement to pay a fee for locating unclaimed funds was invalid. Thus, the request to allow a fee to Venio for locating the Chase account was denied.
