Funds which had been donated to a Philadelphia social organization that promoted gymnastics was awarded under the cy pres doctrine to a similar national organization, to be used to benefit and promote gymnastics and physical education in the Philadelphia area … Continue reading
Category Archives: Opinions
Decedent’s grandchildren, as 30% residuary beneficiaries under the will drafted by the defendant law firm, have standing to pursue a malpractice action against the law firm when the bulk of the decedent’s assets were in a “transfer on death” brokerage … Continue reading
A request for a jury trial on the issue of incapacity was timely, and the right to a jury trial was not waived under 20 Pa.C.S. § 777(d), when the request was filed nine days after service of the petition … Continue reading
A beneficiary designation that was signed and mailed by the decedent was binding and effective even though the decedent died before the designation form was received by the State Employees’ Retirement System. Estate of Lynn D. Wilson v. State Employees’ Retirement … Continue reading
The Orphans’ Court properly found that the burden of proof was on the surviving wife, as the surviving owner of property conveyed to her and the decedent by the decedent in a 2006 deed, as to whether the deeds to … Continue reading
A surviving spouse who is not a beneficiary of a revocable trust executed before the marriage is not entitled to an intestate share of the trust under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2507(3) because that section is not a “rule of construction” … Continue reading
The former wife of the income beneficiary of an irrevocable inter vivos qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust had no standing to object to the trustee’s failure to collect income of the trust even though (a) the former wife would … Continue reading
A surviving spouse was not required to claim her intestate share of the estate within the six month period required for claiming an elective share, and she did not forfeit her intestate share by filing an action for divorce against … Continue reading
A person denied benefits from a municipal pension fund after a finding by a hearing board that a common law marriage was not proven, from which no appeal was made to the Court of Common Pleas, cannot later obtain a … Continue reading
Legal action cannot be filed against the “estate” of a decedent, but only the personal representatives of the estate, and so an action filed against an estate is a nullity and a personal representative of the estate cannot be substituted … Continue reading