When trust document specifically excluded son from discretionary distribution decisions for son’s trust, son may be appointed to serve as a trustee but may not be the sole trustee. It was proper for the corporate trustee who had been appointed to serve “at will” to raise this issue, to delay distributions to the new trustees, and to continue to receive compensation for administering the trust until the issue had been resolved by the court and the account of the corporate trustee had been approved. Griggs Revocable Trust, 9 Fid.Rep.3d 85 (Chester Co. O.C. 2019).
An agent abused her powers, and was ordered to return joint accounts to the estate, when she added the principal’s money to accounts that were in the joint names of her and the principal, knowing that the money would become hers upon the death of the principal, knowing that the principal’s will provided for a different disposition of his money, and without advising the principal of those consequences. Waite Estate, 9 Fid.Rep.3d 75 (Jefferson Co. O.C. 2019), aff’d, 157 WDA 2019 (Super. Ct. 2/24/2020) (non-precedential).
The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court has announced that, for the 2019-2020 Registration Year, the penalty for failing to complete registration by July 16 will be $200, with an additional $200 penalty for failing to complete registration by August 1. The collection fee for returned checks will be $100.
“Collection Fee and Late Payment Penalty; 2019-2020 Registration Year,” 49 Pa.B. 1999 (4/27/2019).
The Orphans’ Court may order a judicial sale of property under 20 Pa.C.S. 3353 over the objections of the holder of a mortgage lien and the lien will attach to the proceeds of sale. In re: Estate of Anna Marie Leipold, 208 A.3d 507, 2019 PA Super 123 (4/23/2019).
Failure to list property addresses in the schedule to an irrevocable trust was not sufficient evidence of fraud in the inducement to void the trust when the corporate owners of the properties were listed and were accurately valued, there being no duty to disclose every individual asset of the corporations. Passarelli Family Trust, 2019 PA Super 95 (3/28/2019) (en banc), rev’g 7 Fid.Rep.3d 63 (O.C. Chester Co. 2016). (The previous decision of a three-judge panel, 2017 PA Super 366 (11/16/2017), was withdrawn and en banc rearg. granted, 3150 EDA 2016 (1/12/2018).)
Update: An appeal was allowed by the Supreme Court, 235 MAL 2019 (9/11/2019), and the Supreme Court has affirmed, ___ A.3d ___, 71 MAP 2019 (Pa. 12/22/2020).
Conservator appointed in California did not have authority to bind his conservatee to an arbitration agreement in Pennsylvania when the conservator did not follow the procedures to transfer or register the conservatorship under the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act, 20 Pa.C.S. Ch. 59. There was also no agency relationship that would allow the conservator to bind the conservatee. McIlwain v. Saber Healthcare Group, Inc., 2019 PA Super 122.
The beneficiaries of a revocable trust have no standing to object to investments made by the trustee during the settlor’s lifetime to which the settlor consented and approved because the duties of the trustee were owed exclusively to the settlor. See 20 Pa.C.S. 7753(a). In re: Trust under Agreement of Pauline O. Walker, 2019 PA Super 120 (4/22/2019).
A pro se appellant’s statement of issues on appeal which was 32 pages long and a “discursive, argumentative, and incoherent rant” violates R.A.P. 1925(b) and should be considered to waive all issues. The appeal should also be dismissed on its merits because the appellant failed to produce sufficient evidence of lack of testamentary capacity or undue influence. Fluellen Estate, 9 Fid.Rep.3d 130, No. 540 AP of 2018 (Philadelphia O.C. 1/22/2019), aff’d, 3557 EDA 2018 (Pa. Super. 12/17/2019) (non-precedential).
A beneficiary who is entitled to an annuity from a trust has standing to object to the account of the administration of the trust, to object to the division of the trust, to object to a new fee schedule for the corporate trustee, and to petition for the appointment of an individual co-trustee. In re: Augustus Trask Ashton Testamentary Trust, 9 Fid.Rep.3d 151, No. 1039 ST of 1952 (Philadelphia O.C. 2/25/2019), aff’d in part, ___ Pa. ___, ___ A.3d ___, 36 EAP 2020 (Pa. 10/4/2021), (with concurrence by Wecht, J.).