Proof of Testator’s Signature

Testimony of bank employee that the signature of the witness to the will was her own, and that she would not have signed as witness if she had not seen the testator sign the will and had identified the testator, together with the testimony of the sole beneficiary of the will, who had lived with the testator for 20 years and was familiar with his signature, was sufficient to admit the will to probate, and contradictory evidence was relevant only if forgery was alleged at a later time. Walden Estate, 10 Fid.Rep.3d 95 (Philadelphia O.C. 2020).

[Note: The concluding statement by the court that the heir who testified that the signature was not that the of testator could challenge the will as a forgery “at a later time” is puzzling. The Register of Wills had denied probate, and on appeal the Orphans’ Court was ordering that the will be admitted to probate. At what “later time” could or should the will be challenged?]

Use of Burial Sites

When the will of the decedent did not specifically dispose of mausoleum crypts and burial plots owned by the decedent, the issue of the decedent inherited those burial sites as tenants in common under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2514(14), and have the right to interment in those sites on a first come, first served basis, but their spouses have no right of interment without the consent of all other co-owners. Raab Living Trust, 10 Fid.Rep.3d 91 (Cumberland O.C. 2020).

Date of Distribution Valuation

Real property distributed to one of two beneficiaries before the final division of the estate should be valued at date of distribution, and not date of death, and the net proceeds from the sale of the property by the beneficiary in an arm’s length transaction is evidence of the date of distribution value. Hunsicker Estate, 10 Fid.Rep.3d 83 (Monroe O.C. 2020).

“Physical Presence” Waived for Retirement Plan Consents

Posted on by July 5, 2020

The Internal Revenue Service has announced relief from the “physical presence” requirement for the notarization or witnessing of participant and spousal consents to certain retirement plan elections during 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under I.R.C. §§ 401 and 417, certain elections by a participant in a qualified retirement plan, and certain required consents by the participant’s spouse (such as the designation of a beneficiary other than the surviving spouse), must be notarized or witnessed by a plan administrator. Treas. Reg. § 1.410(a)-21 allows some kinds of electronic notices and consents, but subsection (d)(6)(i) generally requires spousal consents to be signed in the “physical presence” of a notary or plan administrator. However, subsection(d)(6)(iii) provides that “the Commissioner may provide that the use of procedures under an electronic system is deemed to satisfy the physical presence requirement under paragraph (d)(6)(i) of this section, but only if those procedures with respect to the electronic system provide the same safeguards for participant elections as are provided through the physical presence requirement.”

In Notice 2020-42, 2020-26 I.R.B. 986 (6/22/2020), the Internal Revenue Service announced that during 2020, the physical presence requirement of Treas. Reg. § 1.410(a)-21(d)(6) is deemed to be satisfied:

  • By a remote notarization using live audio-video technology that otherwise satisfies that requirements of participant elections under the regulations and is allowed by state law for remote notarizations; and
  • By a remote witnessing by a plan administrator using live audio-video technology if:
    (1) The individual who is signing (the participant or spouse) presents a valid photo ID to the plan representative during the live audio-video conference (transmitting a copy of the photo ID before or after the witnessing is not sufficient);
    (2) The live audio-video conference allows for direct interaction between the individual and the plan representative (a recorded video of the person signing is not sufficient);
    (3) The individual transmits by fax or other electronic means a legible copy of the signed document directly to the plan representative on the same date it was signed; and
    (4) After receiving the signed document, the plan representative acknowledges that the signature has been witnessed by the plan representative in accordance with Notice 2020-42 and transmits the signed document (including the acknowledgement), back to the individual using a system that the individual can effectively access, with notice that the individual is entitled to a free printed copy upon request, as provided by § 1.401(a)-21(c).

Claims for Home Healthcare Denied

Decedent lived with neighbors due to health issues, and they cared for him, but claims for the value of the neighbors’ services were denied as requiring speculation as to the intent of the decedent, the time spent by the neighbors, or what rate of compensation to apply, but claims for moneys spent by the neighbors in cleaning up the decedent’s property were allowed both under the doctrine of unjust enrichment and because there was disinterested testimony that the decedent approved of the expenses. Ackerman Estate, 10 Fid.Rep.3d 137 (Monroe O.C. 2020).

Appeal from Probate Dismissed as Untimely

Appeal from probate filed more than one year after the grant of letters will be dismissed when the petitioner received a notice of estate administration and does not allege fraud upon the court or any other exception to the one year statute of limitations. Mase Estate, 10 Fid.Rep.3d 120 (Lycoming O.C. 2020).

Beneficiary Receiving Annuity Lacked Standing

A beneficiary who is entitled to an annuity of $2,400 each year for life from a trust did not have have a “direct, immediate and substantial” interest in transactions reported in the trustee’s account covering a period during which the trust fund increased from about $5.56 million to about $73 million and so did not have standing to object to those transactions or to petition for the appointment of a co-trustee, but did have standing to object to the division of the trust into separate trusts, only one of which would be used to pay the annuity. Trust under Will of Augustus T. Ashton, Deceased, Dated January 20, 1950, 233 A.3d 869, 2020 PA Super 130 (6/3/2020), rev’d in part, ___ Pa. ___, ___ A.3d ___, 36 EAP 2020 (Pa. 10/4/2021), (with concurrence by Wecht, J.), and aff’g in part, No. 1039 ST of 1952 (Philadelphia O.C. 2/25/2019).

Overview: Long Term GRAT

Posted on by August 17, 2020

The article “Low-Interest Estate Planning Strategies” described several estate planning strategies that should be considered now that interest rates have reached record lows. One of the strategies that is described in the article is a “long-term GRAT,” meaning a GRAT for a term of 50 to 100 years or more.

A new calculator has been added to Webcalculators to illustrate the benefits of that kind of trust, which can be used to a exclude significant portion of the assets of the GRAT from the grantor’s gross estate. Here is a sample of the output from the calculator, and the overview of the calculators is below:

Emails with Federal Rates

Posted on by May 18, 2020

My Webcalculators service has a new feature, which is that emails are now being sent out monthly with new federal rates under IRC sections 1274 and 7520 as soon as those new rates are announced by the Internal Revenue Service. Those rates are used in calculations for different kinds of estate planning strategies and estate administration valuations. See “Low-Interest Estate Planning Strategies” for some comments on the effects of the historically low interest rates that were announced on Friday.

It will be necessary to register at the Webcalculators site to receive these emails, but registration is free. (Webcalculators is a subscription service, but some features require only the free registration, including the emails announcing new rates.)

Charts of current and historical applicable federal rates and §7520 rates will continue to be maintained on this site, but it was found to be difficult to create emails to announce new rates, and it was not clear whether all subscribers to this site would want to get these emails, which is why it was decided to send the emails through Webcalculators.

Webcalculators registration also allows free access to the following calculators:

  • Annuity factors which can be determined under tables published by the IRS under IRC §7520 (but not factors requiring custom calculations). So a calculation requiring a two-life factor is free, but a calculation for three lives, or the shorter of a term of years and two lives, requires a subscription.
  • Income and remainder factors which can be determined under tables published by the IRS. (See comments about annuity factors, above.)
  • Unitrust factors which can be determined under tables published by the IRS. (See comments about annuity factors, above.)
  • Interest on unpaid federal taxes (which compounds daily).
  • Interest on unpaid Pennsylvania taxes (which is simple interest).
  • Weighted average maturities (which is needed for loans that are amortized or pay principal in installments in order to determine whether short-term, mid-term, or long-term federal rates should apply).