[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 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...
Pennsylvania has enacted a new “Caregiver Advise, Record and Enable Act” (CARE Act), H.B. 1329, Act of April 20, 2016, No. 20, effective in 12 months. This new law attempts to help family members and other “lay caregivers” of people...
[This article was originally published in Probate & Property, Vol. 19, No. 4, p. 22 (July/August 2005).] The year 2004 marked the end of the federal estate tax credit for state death taxes, and the end of any state death … Continue reading
Can the beneficiaries of a trust agree to a modification of the trust in accordance with 20 Pa.C.S. § 7740.1 that allows them to remove and replace a corporate trustee without any showing that the trustee can be removed in … Continue reading
(This article originally appeared in the PBA Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Newsletter, No. 75, p. 19 (Summer 2014).) [This article has not yet been updated to reflect the enactment of the Directed Trust Act as part of Act...
As noted earlier, five different Supreme Court procedural rules committees (Criminal, Juvenile, Civil, Domestic Relations, and Orphans’ Court) have joined together to submit a proposal to revise all state-wide rules to require that local rules be published on-line by each … Continue reading
It is quite common for a broker or other payor to issue Forms 1099-INT or 1099-DIV in the name of the decedent, and with the decedent’s security number, reporting income received after death. This happens because brokers continue to record...
The property that is owned by a decedent at death is administered by the executor or administrator of the decedent’s estate and is always subject to the claims of the decedent’s creditors. The Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code (“PEF Code”),...
The IRS has issued five identical private letter rulings, PLRs 201442042, 201442043, 201442044, 201442045, and 201442046, apparently to five different parties involved in the same transaction, agreeing that a court-approved reformation of a trust in accordance with § 415 of...