The Orphans’ Court did not abuse its discretion in allowing a surviving spouse to revoke her election against her husband’s will three and a half years after the deadline for making the election when the spouse did not have full knowledge of essential facts when she made the election and no other parties would be prejudiced by the delay. In re: Estate of Caleem L. Jabbour, Deceased, 2020 PA Super 299, 244 A.3d 1254 (12/30/2020), rev’d, ___ Pa. ____, 276 A.3d 1180, 13 WAP 2021 (6/22/2022). (A previous Superior Court opinion, which also affirmed the lower court and was published as 2020 PA Super 244 on 10/7/2020, was withdrawn following reargument.)
A settlement agreement disposing of all objections to an account of the executors, negotiated during a settlement conference conducted by a master appointed by the Orphans’ Court, will be enforced against a well -educated and intelligent pro se litigant who was an active and cooperative participant in the settlement conference despite her later claims that she did not understand the binding nature of the agreement she signed. Szafara Estate, 10 Fid.Rep.3d 200 (Bucks O.C. 2020), aff’d 1256 EDA 2020 (Pa. Super. 9/8/2021) (non-precedential), petition for allowance of appeal, 552 MAL 2021.
In a declaratory judgment action, the Orphans’ Court interpreted and applied the contracts, assignments, and other documents signed by the decedent, the executor, and a claimant against the estate to determine the ownership of commissions payable to an agency that had been owned by the decedent and purchased by the claimant, not considering allegations of fraud by the decedent or other misconduct as not properly before the court. Godlewski Estate, 10 Fid.Rep.3d 217 (Chester O.C. 2019).
The Internal Revenue Service has published final regulations on the deductibility of administration expenses for both estates and trusts and for their beneficiaries when the estates or trusts terminate. “Effect of Section 67(g) on Trusts and Estates,” TD 9918, 85…
Under the new regulations for I.R.C. §§ 67 and 642(h), it becomes even more important for both estates and trusts and their beneficiaries to determine which administration expenses are deductible and which are not. (See “Final Regulations on Administration Expenses…
The Supreme Court’s Committee on Rules of Evidence has published a proposed Pa.R.E. Rule 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. “Proposed Adoption of Pa.R.E. 413,” 50 Pa.B. 5222 (9/26/2020).
The committee had previously published a proposed comment to Pa.R.E. 401 that would have included immigration status among a number of other factors, such as race, sex, religion, and national origin, that are generally irrelevant. “Proposed Amendment of the Comment to Pa.R.E. 401,” 49 Pa.B. 2218 (5/4/2019). The committee reported receiving several comments suggesting that a separate rule was needed for immigration status.
The Supreme Court has issued an order adopting a revised public access policy for Pennsylvania courts, including the Orphans’ Court. Included with the order is an explanatory report.
These revised policy include two significant changes:
- The rules had previously made exceptions for confidential information or documents that were required to be included in pleadings or other documents because of statutes or other “applicable authority.” The rules now require that all confidential information and documents be safeguarded in the same way regardless of applicable authority.
- A certification of compliance is no longer required to be included as a separate page of the filing, but may be part of an electronic filing process, part of a cover page or other form, or included in the body of the pleading or other filing.
The revised rules will be effective in thirty days.
“In re: Order Amending Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System,” No 538 Judicial Administration Doc. (9/15/2020); 59 Pa.B. 5216 (9/26/2020).
Columbia and Montour Counties have adopted some new local rules, including a new Orphans’ Court rule, L.R. 2.9, for confirmation of accounts and proposed decrees of distribution. “Business of the Courts; Case No. 2020-MV-1” (26th Judicial Dist., 9/2/2020), 50 Pa.B. 4736 (9/19/2020).
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 private annuity.
Webcalculators has been updated to include a new calculator that illustrates the possible benefits of a private annuity transaction, and the development of this calculator was accelerated in order to help planning for the current low interest rates. The section 7520 rate of 0.4% that is now in effect makes annuities more valuable, which means that private annuity transactions can have lower payouts, potentially increasing the benefit of those transactions for estate planning purposes.
The overview of the private annuity calculator is below:
Some of the calculations in Webcalculators have been updated to incorporate the new mortality table that is based on the 2010 census.
Although there are not yet any new actuarial tables from the Internal Revenue Service, the life estate, annuity, and unitrust calculators at wcalcs.com now include an option to calculate factors and values using the new mortality table published by the Centers for Disease Control on August 7th.
Those interested in the possible impact of the new mortality table can register (no fee required) and use the calculators for “Income (Life Estate) and Remainder Factors and Values,” “Annuity Factors and Values,” and “Unitrust Factors and Values” to calculate factors and values using the current (2000) and new (2010) census mortality tables.