The Supreme Court has held that 23 Pa.C.S. § 2313(a), which requires the appointment of counsel for children involved in contested involuntary termination of parental rights, is not satisfied by the appointment of a guardian ad litem who is also an attorney, because the guardian ad litem is required to consider the best interests of the children as well as the legal interests of the children. In Re: Adoption of L.B.M., No 84 MAP 2016 (Pa. 3/28/2017), rev’g No. 1834 MDA 2015 (Pa. Super. 5/31/2016).
An appeal from a denial of an injunction may be dismissed as moot when the construction sought to be enjoined has been completed. In Re: Wissahickon Playground, No. 2492 C.D. 2015 (Cmwlth. 3/28/2017) (opinion not reported), aff’ng No. 265 IP of 2015 (Philadelphia O.C. 2/3/2016).
Crawford County has adopted new Orphans’ Court Rules, to be effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. “Adoption of Local Orphans’ Court Rules; O.C. 2017-17” (3/6/2017), 47 Pa.B. 1738 (3/25/2017).
Somewhat to my surprise, a bill in the Pennsylvania legislature that would reduce the inheritance tax to 0% for transfers to children under the age of 21 (HB 291) has made it out of committee and received its first consideration.
This same bill was introduced in the last session and went nowhere, and seems to have been inspired by a change in 2000 that imposed a 0% tax rate on transfers from minor children to parents.
Leaving aside the weirdness of imposing different taxes on children who are 18 and children who are 22, the measure would also introduce some complexity in the calculations when the residue of an estate goes to children and some are under 21 and some are not. Like the situation when a charity receives a fraction of the after-tax residue, the tax calculation will become inter-related (or circular) in most cases.
I’m not going to worry about it too much because it hasn’t passed yet (and I hope it doesn’t).
Erie County has adopted new Orphans’ Court local rules, to be effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. “Order Adopting Orphans’ Court Rules; Doc. No. 52-2017” (2/21/2017), 47 Pa.B. 1630 (3/18/2017).
Adams County has adopted new Orphans’ Court local rules for Chapter 14 (Guardianship of Incapacitated Persons), Chapter 15 (Adoptions) and Chapter 16 (Abortion Control Act), all to be effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, and has amended new Rule 15.6. “Orphans’ Court Rules; Administrative Order No. 7 of 2017,” (2/2/2017), 47 Pa.B. 1628 (3/18/2017); “Orphans’ Court Rules; Administrative Order No. 7A of 2017,” (3/1/2017), 47 Pa.B. 1630 (3/18/2017).
The various applicable federal rates (AFRs) published by the Internal Revenue Service, which are used to value life estates, remainders, annuities, and other future interests, as well as intra-family loans, continue to edge upwards.
The new section 7520 rate for April, 2.6%, is the highest since June of 2011, which is almost six years.
See the complete table of 7520 rates and the AFRs for 2017.
In response to several requests, I have edited the page with my power of attorney form to include a link to a copy of the form as an MS Word document.
An intestate heir who does not join in an appeal from the probate of a will has no standing to challenge a settlement agreement between the beneficiary under the will and the other intestate heirs which left the probate of the will intact and required the beneficiary to make payments to the intestate heirs who had appealed from probate. Ballinger Estate, 7 Fid.Rep.3d 53, No. 545 AP of 2013 (O.C. Philadelphia Co. 11/9/2016), aff’d, 2620 EDA 2016 (Pa. Super. 5/19/2017) (non-precedential)..
When a power of attorney lacks the notice and acknowledgement required by 20 Pa.C.S. § 5601, the burden is on the agent to show that the actions taken by the agent were in the principal’s best interest. Even though the agent failed to keep records of her transactions, the records of the decedent’s nursing facility showed that the payments from the decedent’s funds were all payments to that facility, except for two gifts to grandchildren, for which there was testimony that the gifts were at the direction of the decedent and consistent with her past practice, and so surcharge was denied. Estate of Catherine E. Dunn, 8 Fid.Rep.3d 299, Nos. 1544 AP of 2015 and 1544 PR of 2015 (Philadelphia O.C. 1/23/2017).