Under Act 95 of 2016 (H.B. 1605), which became effective last Saturday, inactive individual retirement accounts (IRAs) can escheat to the Pennsylvania Treasury even though the account owner is under age 70-1/2 and not required to take distributions. Under the … Continue reading
Daniel Evans
Cumberland County has published new fees schedules for the Register of Wills and the Orphans’ Court. Both schedules are effective 1/1/2017. “Register of Wills Fee Schedule; 21-16-1253,” 46 Pa.B. 7812 (Cumberland Co. 12/17/2016). “Orphans’ Court Fee Schedule; 21-16-1253,” 46 Pa.B. 7811 (Cumberland … Continue reading
An attempted election against a will, made more than six months after probate, is properly dismissed on summary judgment because the claimant must have known whether she and the decedent agreed to be married and so the six month limitation … Continue reading
The Orphans’ Court Procedural Rules Committee has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with new proposed rules for guardianship proceedings. “Proposed Amendment of Pa. O.C. Rule 1.5, Proposed Rescission of Pa. O.C. Rules 14.1—14.5 and Orphans’ Court Forms G-01—G-04, Proposed … Continue reading
Mother used Uniform Transfers to Minors custodial funds to purchase a home in her own name. Although children lived in home for at least part of the time, mother was ordered to pay over to the children the entire proceeds … Continue reading
[This article was published in the PBA Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Newsletter, No. 73 (Summer 2013), p. 12.] Pennsylvania inheritance tax law allows a trust for the “sole use” of the surviving spouse to be taxed entirely at...
The Act of November 2, 2016, No. 116, H.B. 447, adds a new section 514 to the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 that allows the personal representative to terminate the decedent’s lease of a residential unit, but only for … Continue reading
The Act of July 8, 2016, No. 79 of 2016 (“Act 79”), enacting S.B. 1104, put into effect a number of changes to the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code (PEF Code, Title 20 of Pa.C.S.) that had been recommended by...
A perpetual charitable trust will not be modified to allow distributions of principal to one of the income beneficiaries when the trust document does not allow distributions of principal, notwithstanding the economic hardship and possible insolvency of the charitable beneficiary. … Continue reading
The beneficiaries of certificates of deposits which the decedent had titled “in trust for” their benefit had standing to challenge actions of decedent’s agents who removed the beneficiary designations before the decedent’s death, notwithstanding the general rule that only the … Continue reading