Testimony of bank employee that the signature of the witness to the will was her own, and that she would not have signed as witness if she had not seen the testator sign the will and had identified the testator, … Continue reading
Daniel Evans
When the will of the decedent did not specifically dispose of mausoleum crypts and burial plots owned by the decedent, the issue of the decedent inherited those burial sites as tenants in common under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2514(14), and have … Continue reading
Real property distributed to one of two beneficiaries before the final division of the estate should be valued at date of distribution, and not date of death, and the net proceeds from the sale of the property by the beneficiary … Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service has announced relief from the “physical presence” requirement for the notarization or witnessing of participant and spousal consents to certain retirement plan elections during 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under I.R.C. §§ 401 and 417, … Continue reading
Decedent lived with neighbors due to health issues, and they cared for him, but claims for the value of the neighbors’ services were denied as requiring speculation as to the intent of the decedent, the time spent by the neighbors, … Continue reading
Appeal from probate filed more than one year after the grant of letters will be dismissed when the petitioner received a notice of estate administration and does not allege fraud upon the court or any other exception to the one … Continue reading
A beneficiary who is entitled to an annuity of $2,400 each year for life from a trust did not have have a “direct, immediate and substantial” interest in transactions reported in the trustee’s account covering a period during which the … 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 “long-term GRAT,” meaning a GRAT … Continue reading
A new calculation has been added to Webcalculators to determine the portion of trust that is included in the grantor’s gross estate for federal estate tax purposes when the grantor has retained an annuity interest or unitrust interest (such as … Continue reading
My Webcalculators service has a new feature, which is that emails are now being sent out monthly with new federal rates under IRC sections 1274 and 7520 as soon as those new rates are announced by the Internal Revenue Service. … Continue reading