The Supreme Court’s Committee on Rules of Evidence has published a proposed Pa.R.E. Rule 413 that would allow evidence of immigration status to be used only if relevant to an element of an action or defense, or to a party’s … Continue reading
Daniel Evans
The Supreme Court has issued an order adopting a revised public access policy for Pennsylvania courts, including the Orphans’ Court. Included with the order is an explanatory report. These revised policy include two significant changes: The rules had previously made … Continue reading
Columbia and Montour Counties have adopted some new local rules, including a new Orphans’ Court rule, L.R. 2.9, for confirmation of accounts and proposed decrees of distribution. “Business of the Courts; Case No. 2020-MV-1” (26th Judicial Dist., 9/2/2020), 50 Pa.B. … Continue reading
The article “Low-Interest Estate Planning Strategies” described several estate planning strategies that should be considered now that interest rates have reached record lows. One of the strategies that is described in the article is a private annuity. Webcalculators has been … Continue reading
Some of the calculations in Webcalculators have been updated to incorporate the new mortality table that is based on the 2010 census. Although there are not yet any new actuarial tables from the Internal Revenue Service, the life estate, annuity, … Continue reading
With the release of the Chained Consumer Price Index (C-CPI-U) for August 2020, it’s possible to calculate various inflation adjustments for 2021. The following are the significant federal estate planning numbers, with the numbers for 2020 shown in parentheses: The … Continue reading
As a further response to COVID-19, and in order to protect Internal Revenue Service employees, as well as taxpayers and their representatives, by minimizing the need for in-person contact, the IRS has added federal estate and gift tax returns, Forms … Continue reading
The Supreme Court has adopted a new Pa.O.C. Rule 5.50 governing the form and contents of petitions to settle small estates in accordance with 20 Pa.C.S. § 3102, the new rule to be effective on October 1, 2020. A note has … Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service has announced federal rates for the month of September under §§ 1274 and 7520 of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) that will be the lowest rates since the IRS began publishing those rates in 1984. The … Continue reading
On August 7, the Centers for Decease Control and Prevention published mortality tables based on the 2010 census. “U.S. Decennial Life Tables for 2009-2011, United States Life Tables,” National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 69, No. 8 (8/7/2020). Table 1 of … Continue reading