When Penny Shambo began receiving Medicaid benefits, she and her husband William owned and lived in a house with an appraised value of $125,000 and a mortgage of less than $50,000 in Saratoga County, New York. After William died, their daughter, Melissa Thompson, received a New York state court’s permission to establish a trust for her mother funded with the proceeds of the sale of the house for a discounted rice of $117,500. The sale never occurred. Seven months later, Shambo died. More than three years after her death, Thompson petitioned the court to be appointed administrator of her mother’s estate. The court granted the petition. Saratoga County filed a claim against the estate for reimbursement of the Medicaid benefits that Shambo had received. The court directed Thompson to sell the house. A year and a half later, she sold the property to her husband for $110,000, when the balance of the mortgage was almost $75,000. (The balance increased because of interest that had accrued during the previous five years when Thompson only made sporadic mortgage payments.) [ In re Estate of Shambo, 169 A.D.3d 1201, 94 N.Y.S.3d 690 (3 Dept. 2019)] (See Wills.) 

(a) Apply the IDDR approach to evaluate the ethics of Thompson’s delay in selling her mother’s property.

(b) After the sale of the house, Thompson filed with the court an accounting for administration expenses of almost $85,000. These included unsubstantiated “property expenses,” a commission for Thompson, and funeral and court costs. Should the court approve payment for these items from Shambo’s estate? Discuss.