Language in trust document regarding creditors of beneficiaries did not restrain voluntary assignments of beneficial interests and so was not a valid spendthrift clause. Further, even a valid spendthrift clause would not have prevented the beneficiary from assigning distributions as … Continue reading
Category Archives: Opinions
Surviving spouse who unsuccessfully attempted to elect against the decedent’s will and who took other actions to challenge the validity of a prenuptial agreement ordered to pay reasonable legal fees to the estate in accordance with the prenuptial agreement, and … Continue reading
Preliminary objections by Attorney General to petition of agent upheld, the court finding that it did not have the power to undo annuity beneficiary designations made by agent during decedent’s lifetime. Scutchall Estate, 4 Fid.Rep.3d 311 (O.C. Franklin Co. 2015) … Continue reading
It was not an abuse of discretion for the Orphans’ Court to deny termination of mother’s parental rights when mother had maintained contact with child while in foster care and had made some progress in maintaining emotional stability, and there … Continue reading
It was not an abuse of discretion for the Orphans’ Court to deny father’s request for a continuance of a termination hearing in order to obtain counsel when father received adequate notice of the hearing and of his right to … Continue reading
A trust may be modified under 20 Pa.C.S. § 7740.1(d) to allow the beneficiaries to remove and replace a corporate trustee without regard to the conditions for removing trustees under 20 Pa.C.S. § 7766. Trust under Agreement of Edward Winslow … Continue reading
Provision of will allowing decedent’s wife and daughters to operate “farms” on decedent’s property did not allow the executor to continue to administer the property forty-three years after the decedent’s death when only a part of the property was leased … Continue reading
Specific performance of option to purchase real estate was enforced against the estate, notwithstanding delay of more than 10 years from the initial order allowing the exercise of the option and the recording of a lis pendens, the court finding … Continue reading
Objections to executor’s account were denied to the extent they related to a private auction of real estate among the beneficiaries because the sale had been authorized and approved by the court in previous litigation, even though the terms of … Continue reading
Counsel fees of $34,848, paid from an estate of $102,852, reduced to $18,000, and executor surcharged for excess, when the testimony of counsel was conclusory and failed to justify the fee paid from an estate with no unusual complexities or … Continue reading