Testamentary gifts to step-grandchildren that were conditioned upon their grandmother (the decedent’s wife) not electing against his will and not recovering assets “in our divorce after my death” did not disinherit the step-grandchildren when a final decree of divorce (and equitable division of marital assets) was entered before death because the scrivener of the will testified that it was what the testator intended. In re: Estate of Thomas P. Cassidy, Deceased, 2023 PA Super 101, ___ A.3d. ___ (6/9/2023), rev’g 12 Fid.Rep.3d 423 (Bucks O.C. 2022).
Pa.R.O.C.P. 14.8 has been amended to include more detailed recording of enforcement actions in guardianship reporting. “Order Amending Rule 14.8 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Orphans’ Court Procedure; No. 948 Supreme Court Rules Docket” (6/12/2023), 53 Pa.B. 3305 (6/24/2023), to be effective April 1, 2024.
The executor of a deceased trustee had standing to object to the account filed by the surviving trustee when other beneficiaries joined in the objections and the objection to standing was waived by not raising it until after two and a half years of litigation. Claims for legal fees were properly denied when the trustee was surcharged and the fees were incurred after all pleadings were filed, because a trustee is not entitled to fees for asserting a claim to fees. Cassalia Trusts (No. 2), 1 Fid.Rep.4th 63 (Montgomery O.C. 2023), on appeal, 666 EDA 2023 (Pa. Super.) (consolidated with 667-672 EDA 2023). (The adjudication to which this Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion relates was Cassalia Trusts, 12 Fid.Rep.3d 562 (Montgomery O.C. 2022).)
Preliminary objections to a petition for the removal of a corporate trustee were sustained, and the petition dismissed, when the corporate trustee refused to make distributions which it “shall deem advisable” for health, maintenance, support, and education without first receiving financial information from the beneficiaries. The petitioners also failed to join the remainder beneficiaries, who were necessary and indispensible parties. Holdship Trust, 1 Fid.Rep.4th 59 (Allegheny O.C. 2022), aff’d, 288 A.3d 919, 2023 PA Super 11 (1/19/2023) (allegations of petition were not grounds for removal).
Will with electronic signature, affixed by the decedent using DocVerify system during a videoconference with two witnesses and a notary public, is not a valid will, which requires an “actual ink to paper” signature. Kittler Estate, 1 Fid.Rep.4th 53 (Lancaster O.C. 2022), aff’d 2023 PA Super 180, ___ A.3d ___ (9/25/2023).
Challenges to the validity of a revocable trust must be made by a petition to the Orphans’ Court, and not by an appeal from the probate of the will of which the trust is a beneficiary, and so the appeal from probate which alleges undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity, and fraud as to the revocable trust and its amendments, and not the will, was dismissed without prejudice. Mode Estate, 1 Fid.Rep.4th 52 (Chester O.C. 2022).
Before marrying his wife, the decedent executed a deed conveying a life estate to the woman who would later become his wife if she survived him, with the remainder passing at her death to “the parties entitled thereto in the said will” if he died with a will. The decedent died with a will that was executed before the marriage, but the remainder was excluded from the estate subject to the wife’s intestate share as pretermitted spouse under 20 Pa.C.S. 2105(a) (as in effect in at the decedent’s death in 1975) because she had joined in the deed. Estate of Evelyn S. Holtry, Deceased v. Sandra K. Myers, et. al., 1 Fid.Rep.4th 43 (Franklin C.D. 2023).
A late spousal election under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2210 by the guardian of an incapacitated spouse will be allowed when the COVID-19 pandemic struck between the date of death and the six month filing deadline, the estate was not harmed by the delay, all parties were aware that the guardian intended to make the election, and inequities and gross injustice would otherwise result. Garbutt Estate, 1 Fid.Rep.4th 29 (Chester O.C. 2022), aff’d In re: Estate of Terri Garbutt, 616 EDA 2022 (Pa. Super. 2/27/2023) (non-precedential). (The Superior Court opinion was previously reported.)
The decision of the Register of Wills to deny letters of administration to the father of the minor decedent, and grant letters to the mother instead, was affirmed because the father had filed a petition for letters in Beaver County and falsely stated that the minor was a resident in that county even though it was undisputed that the minor had actually resided with her mother in Allegheny County, as shown on the death certificate. Gennaro Estate, 1 Fid.Rep.4th 25 (Allegheny O.C. 2022), aff’d 758 WDA 2022 (PA Super. 2/9/2023).
A limited guardian of the person and limited guardian of the estate was appointed due to problems with alcoholism and nutrition, leading to repeated hospital admissions for dehydration and malnutrition, the court finding partial incapacity based on expert testimony that the alleged incapacitated person suffers from mild neurocognitive disorder from alcohol abuse and was at risk of financial exploitation. In Re: P.O., An Incapacitated Person, 1 Fid.Rep.4th 5 (Montgomery O.C. 2021), aff’d, 1587 EDA 2021 (PA Super. 7/15/2022) (non-precedential).