A sale of real property that had been specifically devised was approved when the estate was otherwise without sufficient funds to pay debts and expenses, and the offer made by the devisee was “woefully inadequate” compared to the price under the contract already signed by the executor. The court was not required to hold a hearing on the removal of the executor before approving the sale when the request to remove the executor came in an answer to the petition for approval of the sale and not in a separate petition. Pstrak Estate, 3 Fid.Rep.4th 116 (Luzerne O.C. 2022), aff’d 936 MDA 2022 (Pa. Super. 4/17/2024) (non-precedential).

[DBE Comment: The Superior Court stated that the joinder of the specific devisees of the property was not required because the will included a general power to sell property “without excepting specifically devised property,” but that conclusion seems to violate the principle of construction that a specific provision overrides a general provision. A provision of a will making a specific disposition of a specific property should therefore override a general direction that that executor is able to sell property and that general direction does not expressly override specific gifts of property. It is also not clear what “joinder” means in this context because the opinion of the Orphans’ Court stated that a citation was served on all parties to show cause why the petition to allow the sale should not be granted, and the objecting devisee was in fact a party to the proceeding.]