The Orphans’ Court improperly excluded documentary evidence of the birth records of claimants to the estate, and could not exclude the testimony of a genealogical witness to be paid on a contingent fee for a violation of the Rules of … Continue reading
Category Archives: Opinions
When a trust owns an annuity contract making annual payments, the estate of a beneficiary who dies after the annual payment date but before the distribution of the payment is entitled to the deceased beneficiary’s share of the annuity payment, … Continue reading
Petition to seal proceedings to allocate settlement between wrongful death and survival actions was denied in the absence of a showing that disclosure would work a clearly defined and serious injury to the parties, who only alleged that the “substantial … Continue reading
The court refused to stay its review of the account of the trustees (based on in rem jurisdiction) while an action against the same trustees for tortious conduct in the administration of the trust (based on personal jurisdiction) was pending … Continue reading
The court exercised its discretion to summarily remove both co-administrators when both had filed pleadings to remove the other, finding that an evidentiary hearing would result in delay as well as unnecessary fees and expenses, and that the discord was … Continue reading
It was an abuse of discretion and a denial of due process to deny a hearing on whether the contestant to a will had probable cause to challenge the validity of the will when the probate appeal was dismissed on … Continue reading
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a state cannot tax the undistributed income of a trust when the only connection between the state and the trust is that beneficiaries of the trust reside in the state but the beneficiaries … Continue reading
The son of the decedent was not removed as executor for wasting or mismanaging the estate because (a) the executor transferring the decedent’s worthless timeshare properties to himself relieved the estate of the maintenance fees; (b) the executor had been … Continue reading
Because the two executors were deadlocked over the discretionary distribution of the estate, and one of them had a conflict of interest over a claim against her daughter while the other was believed to be more likely to bring the … Continue reading
Probate of 2007 will was upheld based on testimony of lawyer who met with the decedent on several occasions and prepared the will, as well as the lack of any evidence of undue influence, while probate of a 2013 will … Continue reading