Orphans’ Court Had Exclusive Jurisdiction over All Claims Related to Trust Administration

The claims by the beneficiaries of a trust against the trustee and others for fraud and conversion concerned the administration of the trust, and so were all within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Orphans’ Court, which has all of the powers of a court of Common Pleas and has nonmandatory jurisdiction to decide claims involving third parties and actions other than breaches of fiduciary duties. However, the remedy for the erroneous filing in the Civil Division was not dismissal the complaint but the transfer of the complaint to the Orphans’ Court division. Williams et al. v. Geer at al., 128 WDA 2023 (Pa. Super. 3/18/2024) (non-precedential).

[For other decisions involving this same trust, see “Contempt Affirmed over Situs Dispute” and “Choice of Law for Administration of Trust.”]

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