The Butler County Court of Common Pleas has appointed Gerri V. Paulisick as the Master in Orphans’ Court. “Appointment of Orphans’ Court Master; MSD No. 1 of 2017” (Butler Co. 8/31/2017), 47 Pa.B. 5780 (9/16/2017).
When notices of federal tax liens are filed during the decedent’s lifetime, the federal lien has priority over expenses of administration of the decedent’s estate. In re Estate of Simmons (United States v. Spiekhout), No. 1:15-cv-01097-TWP-MPB (U.S.D.C. S.D. Ind. 7/31/2017); Estate of Friedman v. Cadle Co., No. 3:08CV488 RNC, 2009 WL 7271206, at *3 (D. Conn. Sept. 8, 2009). However, IRM 5.5.2.4(3) provides that the government “may in its discretion not assert priority over reasonable administrative expenses of the estate.”
The proponent of a photocopy of a will failed to prove that the contents of the photocopy were substantially the same as the missing original. In re: Estate of John Brumbaugh, 2017 PA Super 287 (9/6/2017).
A trust may not be distributed in a manner that is inconsistent with a family settlement agreement approved by a decree of the Orphans’ Court more than 5 years before, so the court may deny the issuance of a citation, which is “tantamount to the grant of a demurrer.” Edward Winslow Taylor Inter Vivos Trust, 169 A.3d 658, 2017 PA Super 275 (8/23/2017).
The gift tax that is paid after death for net gifts made in the year of death is included in the gross estate under IRC section 2035 and the estate is not entitled to any deduction for the gift tax as a debt of the estate under IRC section 2053. Under state law, no part of the federal estate tax that is payable will be apportioned to the donees even though the values of the taxable gifts are included in the calculation of the tax and the gift tax is included in the gross estate. Estate of Sheldon C. Sommers v. Commissioner, 149 T.C. No. 8 (8/22/2017).
Pennsylvania’s filial support law (23 Pa.C.S. § 4603) did not apply to the New Jersey parents of an adult indigent son who was provided care in Pennsylvania. Melmark, Inc. v. Schutt, 169 A.3d 638, 2017 PA Super 272 (8/21/2017), rev’d, 78 MAP 2017 (Pa. 4/26/2019).
The Orphans’ Court Procedural Rules Committee has published proposed new rules for guardianship proceedings, Pa.O.C. Rules 14.1 to 14.14, and new Orphans’ Court Forms G-01 through G-06. These new proposed rules are revisions to the rules that were proposed in December 2016, 46 Pa.B. 7934.
A Republication Report on the rules and their revisions is included with the proposed rules and forms.
An amendment to Pa.O.C. Rule 1.5 is also proposed in order to vacate local guardianship rules once the new statewide rules become effective.
“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 through G-04, Proposed Adoption of New Pa. O.C. Rules 14.1—14.14 and Orphans’ Court Forms G-01 through G-06, and Proposed Amendment of the Appendix of Forms,” 47 Pa.B. 4815 (8/18/2017).
It is a violation of due process for a state to refuse to put the name of the wife of a birth mother on a birth certificate if the state would put the name of a husband on a birth certificate even though the husband is not the biological father. Pavan v. Smith, 582 U.S. ____, No. 16-992 (6/26/2017) (per curiam; Justices Gorsuch, Thomas, and Alito dissenting).
Evidence that decedent believed he had provided for his daughters during his lifetime, that decedent did not contact his attorney about preparing a new will or speak to any other attorney about a new will, and that the decedent had a “convoluted” filing system which could have caused the family to overlook the will when cleaning out his house, was sufficient to overcome the presumption that the missing will was destroyed by the decedent with the intention of revoking it, and so the probate of a copy of the missing will was affirmed. Estate of Charles F. Maddi, 167 A.3d 818, 2017 PA Super 246, (7/25/2017), app. den., 178 A.3d 107 (2018).
Mercer County has adopted new Orphans’ Court rules to supplement the statewide rules that became effective September 1, 2016. “Local Rules of Court; No. 17-1,” (Mercer Co. 7/24/2017), 47 Pa.B. 4524 (8/5/17).