All compensation denied to an executor who was unsuccessful in selling the decedent’s mobile home, allowed the estate’s bank account to be embezzled by her attorney, allowed specifically bequeathed property to be sold and then turned over the proceeds of … Continue reading
Category Archives: Opinions
Woman who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s nine years before, and whose mental capacity had continued to decline, was adjudicated incapacitated and the two daughters who had helped to take care of her and her husband before his death were … Continue reading
Co-trustees of a trust cannot obtain a surcharge against a third trustee for failing to arrange for the payment of a premium on a life insurance policy when there was no clear evidence of a delegation to the third trustee. … Continue reading
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
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