A motion to allow the deposition of possible witnesses that was made seven months after the witnesses were identified in supplemental answers to interrogatories, five months after the close of discovery, a month after receiving the other party’s pretrial memorandum, and only two months before the scheduled trial date was denied as untimely. Estate of Leland W. Benson, Jr., 11 Fid.Rep.3d 227 (Lycoming O.C. 2021).
When a will has no provisions for the resignation of, or successors to, a testamentary trustee, 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 7765(a.1(e) and 7764(c)(2) allow the beneficiaries to accept the resignation of the corporate trustee, and allow the qualified beneficiaries to appoint a successor corporate trustee, through a nonjudicial settlement agreement. Estate of Martin L. Early, 11 Fid.Rep.3d 224 (Montgomery O.C. 2021).
When a testator divorces, then remarries the former spouse, and then dies without changing the will from the first marriage, the surviving spouse is entitled to an intestate share under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2507(3). In re: Estate of Tom D. Thumma, 11 Fid.Rep.3d 217, 70 Cumb. 206 (Cumberland O.C. 2021).
A beneficiary who is entitled to an annuity of $2,400 each year for life from a trust of about $73 million had standing to object to transactions of the trustee alleged to be breaches of fiduciary duties, as well as to retroactive and prospective changes in trustee compensation, without the beneficiary needing to show that she has suffered, or will suffer, a monetary loss. Trust under Will of Augustus T. Ashton, Deceased, Dated January 20, 1950, ___ Pa. ___, 260 A.3d 81, 36 EAP 2020 (Pa. 10/4/2021), (with concurrence by Wecht, J.), rev’g in part, 233 A.3d 869, 2020 PA Super 130 (6/3/2020), and aff’g in part, 9 Fid.Rep.3d 151, No. 1039 ST of 1952 (Philadelphia O.C. 2/25/2019).
The Supreme Court has adopted a new Rule of Evidence 413 that would allow evidence of immigration status to be used only if relevant to an element of an action or defense, or to a party’s or witness’s motive. “Order Approving the Adoption of Pennsylvania Rule of Evidence 413; No. 878 Supreme Court Rules Doc.” (8/1/2021), 51 Pa.B. 5192 (8/21/2021).
The Supreme Court Committee on Rules of Evidence had proposed this new rule in September of 2020.
[Note: The order adopting the new rule was republished at 51 Pa.B. 6140 (9/25/2021) because the original publication assigned the rule to the wrong title of the Pa. Code.]
If you’ve noticed there have not been email updates in a while, thank you. It’s nice to be missed.
The problem I was having is that the emails were starting to be treated as spam by some email servers, which was causing problems for my email host. It took me a while, but I’ve finally reconfiguring the system to use a different email host for these emails, which should eliminate the problem going forward.
You will therefore find that today’s email update will be longer than usual, and will include twenty of the twenty-three new postings made in the last two months. The three postings that could not be included in today’s email are are reports on New Adoption Rules, Revised Ethics Rules on Discrimination, and an opinion on Evaluating Testimony of Witnesses.
My apologies for the delay in sending you these updates.
Dan Evans
The Register of Wills did not abuse her discretion or commit an error of law in denying letters of administration to a principal creditor of the estate when the creditor had an ownership interest in property owned by the decedent which created a conflict of interest with other creditors and failed to disclose that interest, creating reasonable doubts about the ability of the petitioner to competently administer the estate and constituting “good cause” not to appoint him. Schwartz Estate, 11 Fid.Rep.3d 210 (Bucks O.C. 2021), aff’d, 275 A.3d 1032, 2022 PA Super 80 (5/5/2022).
The incapacitated person’s son, who was nominated to be her guardian in her durable power of attorney, but the son had neglected and abused his mother, had failed to cooperate in making arrangements for her care, was more interested in preserving his mother’s home for himself than in qualifying her for Medicaid benefits, and had criminal convictions for both assault and murder, so good cause existed not to appoint him as her guardian. The court also rejected the son’s allegations of various procedural errors. Gladys DeAngelo, an Incapacitated Person, 11 Fid.Rep.3d 181 (Chester O.C. 2020), appeal dism’d, 3466 EDA 2019 (Pa. Super. 7/24/2020) (appeal was moot following the death of the incapacitated person).
A petition to refuse a notice of claim that was filed under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3532 more than one year after the first advertisement of the grant of letters was granted and the notice of claim was refused. Martin Estate, 11 Fid.Rep.3d 179 (Adams O.C. 2021).
[DBE Commient: It is not clear whether this decision is based on a misreading of § 3532(b)(1) or if the description of the factual circumstances is incomplete, because § 3532(b)(1) does not bar the filing of a claim more than one year after the first advertisement of the grant of letters but only bars claims against the personal representative or beneficiaries for personal property that has been distributed. The decision does not say whether the estate was already distributed, and the court’s descriptions of § 3532 seem to be inaccurate.]
With the release of the Chained Consumer Price Index (C-CPI-U) for August 2021, it’s possible to calculate various inflation adjustments for 2022. The following are the significant federal estate planning numbers, with the numbers for 2021 shown in parentheses:
- The base applicable exclusion amount (and generation-skipping tax exemption) will be $12,060,000 (was $11,700,000 for 2021).
- The annual gift tax exclusion will be $16,000 (had been $15,000 since 2018).
- The annual gift tax exclusion for a non-citizen spouse will be $164,000 (was $159,000).
- The “2 percent” amount for purposes of section 6166 will be $1,640,000 (was $1,590,000).
- The limitation on the special use valuation reduction under section 2032A will be $1,230,000 (was $1,190,000).
- The top (37%) income tax bracket for estates and trusts will begin at $13,450 (was $13,050).
- The alternative minimum tax exemption for estates and trusts will be 26,500 (was $25,700), and the phaseout of the exemption will start at $88,300 (was $85,650).
The Internal Revenue Service will publish the official inflation adjustments in a Revenue Procedure that will probably appear in 4-8 weeks.