Updated Online EIN Application

Posted on by September 14, 2025

On Aug. 18, 2025, the Internal Revenue Service updated the Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) online application, which the IRS reported was part of ongoing modernization efforts, and should be easier to use.

A past source of confusion was that the online application treated the “responsible party” of a trust as the grantor (or owner or “trustor”) of the trust, even though the grantor of a trust usually has no role in the administration of an irrevocable trust, and may even be dead. This treatment was consistent with the instructions to the printed application, Form SS-4, and those instructions have not (yet) changed, but some practitioners have reported that the new online application treats the “responsible party” as the trustee and not the grantor, which is more consistent with the law of trusts.

New Form 706 for 2025

Posted on by September 14, 2025

The Internal Revenue Service has released a new Form 706, “United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return,” for decedents dying after 2024.

The new form is 5 pages (previous version was 4 pages), but with all the schedules (the new versions of which can be found on the Forms and Publications page), the new Form 706 is 56 pages, and there are numerous changes to the layout of the form.

Will Forgery Proven by Handwriting Expert Despite Testimony of Subscribing Witness

Posted on by September 14, 2025

It was not an error of law or abuse of discretion for the Orphans’ Court to find that there was clear and convincing evidence that the probated will was a forgery based on the testimony of a handwriting expert and other witnesses familiar with the decedent and his signature, and contrary to the testimony of another expert, as well as a witness who claimed to have witnessed the execution of the will. In re: Estate of Carlos Ignacio Sanchez, 66 EDA 2025 (Pa. Super. 9/12/2025) (non-precedential).

No Error in Removing Administrator Who Failed to Timely Distribute Estate

Posted on by September 14, 2025

It was not an error of law or abuse of discretion for the Orphans’ Court to remove an administrator when the administration of the estate was substantially completed when the administrator was granted letters due to the death of the executor, and the administrator took no action to conclude the administration of the estate in the two years following her appointment. It was also not error for the court to direct the person who had filed the petition for removal to file a petition for appointment as successor administrator, and to enter an order directing the administrator being removed to turn over estate records and assets to the successor administrator after appointment. In re: Estate of Robert V. Lorent, 2630 EDA 2024 (Pa. Super. 9/11/2025) (non-precedential).

Claim of “Fraud on the Register” Did Not Allow Challenge to Will More Than One Year after Probate

Posted on by September 14, 2025

Preliminary objections to a petition to revoke the probate of a will were properly sustained when the petition was filed more than one year after probate and the documents in the record that were exhibits to other petitions filed by petitioner show that the petitioner was aware of the decedent’s possible lack of capacity, so that the claim of “fraud on the register” did not provide a basis for avoiding the one year limitation for appeals from probate under 20 Pa.C.S. § 908(a). The Orphans’ Court was not deprived of subject matter jurisdiction by the failure to issue citations to several of the beneficiaries of the will. In re: Estate of Robert Torrens, 2708 EDA 2024 (Pa. Super. 9/11/2025) (non-precedential).

Unofficial Inflation Adjustments for 2026

Posted on by September 12, 2025

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has published the Chained Consumer Price Index (C-CPI-U) for August 2025, and so it’s possible to calculate various inflation adjustments for 2026. The following are the significant federal estate planning numbers calculated for 2026, with the numbers for 2025 shown in parentheses:

  • The annual gift tax exclusion will remain at $19,000 (same as for 2025).
  • The annual gift tax exclusion for a non-citizen spouse will be $194,000 (had been $190,000 for 2025).
  • The “2 percent” amount for purposes of section 6166 will be $1,940,000 (was $1,900,000).
  • The limitation on the special use valuation reduction under section 2032A will be $1,460,000 (was $1,420,000).
  • The top (37%) income tax bracket for estates and trusts will begin at $16,000 (was $15,650).
  • The alternative minimum tax exemption for estates and trusts will be $31,400 (was $30,700), and the phaseout of the exemption will start at $104,800 (was $102,450).

Not included in the above list is the federal estate tax base applicable exclusion amount (and generation-skipping tax exemption), because it was changed to $15,000,000 for deaths and gifts in 2026 by section 70106 of P.L. 119-21 (formerly known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill”). It had been $13,990,000 for 2025, and will not be adjusted for inflation until 2027.

The Internal Revenue Service will publish the official inflation adjustments for 2026 in a Revenue Procedure that will probably appear in 4-8 weeks.

Insufficient Evidence of Breach of Fiduciary Duty by Agent

Posted on by September 2, 2025

Because the Superior Court had previously ruled that the agent’s deposit of a refund check of the principal into a joint account with the agent was not a per se breach of fiduciary duty, the court in the second appeal would not consider arguments that the deposit was a breach of loyalty or good faith because of the law of the case doctrine, and there was insufficient evidence that the deposit was not in the best interests of the principal. The decision of the Orphans’ Court to deny legal fees to the executor of the principal’s estate was also affirmed because on remand the executor had failed to provide sufficient evidence on the amount or purpose of the fees paid. In re: Estate of Eugenia M. Finnie, 652 EDA 2024, 653 EDA 2024 (Pa. Super. 8/25/2025) (non-precedential).

For the earlier opinion of the Superior Court in the same case, see “No Improper Commingling of Assets by Agent.”

No Improper Commingling of Assets by Agent

Posted on by September 2, 2025

The duties of an agent under 20 Pa.C.S. § 5601.3 apply to powers of attorney created before January 1, 2015, but do not apply to acts of omissions of agents that occurred before that date, and an agent’s deposit in 2014 of a refund check payable to the principal into a bank account in the joint names of the principal and agent was not an improper commingling of assets when the joint account was created by the principal and did not include funds of the agent, but could be a breach of fiduciary duty for other reasons. Because the Orphans’ Court failed to consider other possible reasons, and prevented the parties from developing a record relevant to those other reasons, the case was remanded for further proceedings. In re: Estate of Eugenia M. Finnie, 1476 EDA 2022, 1477 EDA 2022 (Pa. Super. 2/27/2023) (non-precedential), vac’g and rem’g, 12 Fid.Rep.3d 203 (Montgomery O.C. 2022).

For a later opinion of the Superior Court in the same case, see “Insufficient Evidence of Breach of Fiduciary Duty by Agent.”

No Inter Vivos Gift of Realty without Deed

Posted on by September 1, 2025

The handwritten, notarized document signed by the decedent by which he purportedly “gave” his house to the claimant, with the condition that the claimant pay the existing mortgage until he was able to obtain a mortgage in his own name, was not an inter vivos gift of the property because there was no delivery of a deed, and so the claimant filed to present clear, direct, precise, and convincing evidence of his interest in the property. In re: Estate of Robert O. Garvin II, 1346 WDA 2024 (Pa. Super. 8/28/2025) (non-precedential).