Federal Law Does Not Bar Access to Decedent’s On-Line Accounts (Mass.)

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has held that the federal Stored Communications Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 2701 et. seq.) does not prohibit Internet service providers from providing access to the digital assets of a decedent to the personal representatives of the decedent’s estate.  Ajemian v. YAHOO!, 478 Mass. 169 (2017), No. SJC-12237  (Mass. 10/16/2017).

Note:  This appears to be the first case to address this issue, and hopefully other courts will follow suit.  The decision does not mean that personal representatives are entitled to access to the decedent’s digital assets, but only that federal law does not prohibit access.  It therefore removes the primary obstacle to the implementation of the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which has been enacted in a number of states and is currently pending in the Pennsylvania legislature as S.B. 827.

Ninety-One Year Old not Adjudicated Incapacitated

A son’s petition to have his 91 year old mother declared incapacitated was denied when the son had a power of attorney for his mother and controlled her finances, so that it was unlikely that his mother would become the victim of designing persons, and there was insufficient evidence that his mother was unable to care for herself, or that there were medical conditions requiring frequent monitoring by a physician.  In re D.G., Alleged Incapacitated Person, 7 Fid.Rep.3d 116 (O.C. Berks Co. 2016).

Claim of Half-Brother to Unclaimed Property Denied

A claim to unclaimed property held by the Pennsylvania Treasury was properly denied when the property was a joint account in the names of the claimant’s mother and half-sister, the mother predeceased the half-sister so that the account became the sole property of the half-sister, and the claimant was not an heir to the half-sister because she was survived by her father.  Morris v. Pa. Treasury Dept., Bureau of Unclaimed Property, 152 A.3d 1083, 7 Fid.Rep.3d 112, 668 C.D. 2016 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2016).

Administrator of Settlor’s Estate Has Standing in Action for Temporary Trustee

The administrator of the deceased settlor’s estate has standing to request the appointment of a temporary trustee when the trust was for the settlor’s benefit during his lifetime, the estate may have assets within the real properties held in the trust, and the settlor had been contesting the validity of the trust, but the request for a temporary fiduciary was denied when the trustee has engaged counsel and a property manager in order to properly manage the properties.  Altemose Trust, 7 Fid.Rep.3d 99 (O.C. Monroe Co. 2016).

Dauphin County O.C. Public Access

Dauphin County has promulgated several changes to its local rules regarding the confidentiality of information filed with the court, including the Orphans’ Court, amending local Rule of Judicial Administration 101 and 102 and local Orphans’ Court Rule 1.8(c). “Promulgation of Local Rules; No. 1793 S 1989, 2217-0001; 1372 MD 2017” (Dauphin Co. 9/22/2017), 47 Pa.B. 6184 (10/7/2017).

Grounds for Divorce not Established by Stale Affidavit

The surviving spouse’s attempt to discontinue a divorce action following the death of the decedent was ineffective under new Pa.R.C.P. 1920.17, but grounds for divorce were not established within the meaning of 23 Pa.C.S. § 3323(g) when the decedent’s affidavit of consent to the divorce was filed more than thirty days after it was executed, in violation of Pa.R.C.P. 1920.42, and so the decedent’s designation of his wife as beneficiary of his life insurance was not modified by 20 Pa.C.S. § 6111.2.  The execution of a post-nuptial agreement as part of the divorce proceedings was an effective waiver of the right of the surviving spouse to a joint-and-survivor annuity, and that waiver can be enforced against the surviving spouse despite failure to comply with federal law, notably the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), which otherwise preempted state law, because ERISA does not bar an estate from recovering pension funds distributed to an ex-spouse who had executed a waiver of rights to those funds.  Easterday Estate, 171 A.3d 911, 2017 PA Super 315 (10/3/17), aff’d 15 MAP 2018 and 16 MAP 2018 (Pa. 6/18/2019), aff’ng on other grounds, 6 Fid.Rep.3d 178 (O.C. Montgomery Co. 3/22/2016).

(See the earlier report on the decision of the Orphans’ Court. and the report on the Supreme Court decision.)