Montgomery County Guardianship Rules Adopted

Montgomery County has adopted new guardianship rules, to be effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. “Adoption of Local Rules of Orphans’ Court 14.2—Petition for Adjudication of Incapacity and Appointment of a Guardian of the Person or Estate of an Incapacitated Person; Local Rule 14.2(a)(17)—Petition Contents; Local Rule 14.2(b-1)—Required Certification and Criminal Background Check of Guardians; Local Rule 14.2(c)(5)-(6)—Exhibits; and Local Rule 14.2(f)—Notice” (Montgomery Co. 6/19/2019), 49 Pa.B. 3603 (7/13/2019).

Income Tax Returns of Revocable Trusts after the Settlor’s Death

H.B. 262, which eliminates the inheritance tax on all transfers from parents to children who are 21 or younger, also allows revocable trusts to be treated as part of the estate for Pennsylvania income tax purposes if the estate has made that election for federal income tax purposes. The bill passed both houses of the legislature and was approved by the governor as the Act of June 28, 2019, No. 13.

Under section 645 of the Internal Revenue Code, an estate can make an election to treat a revocable trust as part of the estate for federal income tax purposes, but there was no comparable provision under Pennsylvania law. So if an estate made that election, it would still be required to file separate Pennsylvania returns for the estate and trust, which was administratively burdensome. H.B. 262 eliminates this problem.

Section 10.2 of H.B. 262 amends section 331(g) of the Tax Reform Code of 1971, No. 2 of 1971 (72 P.S. § 7331), to read as follows:

“(g) The return for an estate or trust shall be made and filed by the fiduciary.  If two or more fiduciaries are acting jointly, the return may be made by any one of them. If the executor of the estate and trustee of the trust make an election under section 645 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Public Law 99-514, 26 U.S.C. § 645), as amended, to treat the income of the trust as part of the estate, the fiduciary may make and file a joint tax return for the estate and trust under this subsection for the taxable years when the trust income is reported as part of the estate income in accordance with section 645 of the internal revenue code of 1986, as amended. If the income tax liabilities of the estate and trust are filed on a joint tax return under this subsection, the tax liabilities of the estate and trust shall be joint and several. The provisions of subsection (d) shall be applicable to a joint tax return filed under this subsection.”

Section 29 of H.B. 262 makes this new provision applicable to tax years beginning after December 31, 2019.

Proposed Amendments to Public Access Policy

The Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts has published some technical and mechanical amendments to the Case Record Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System that it is considering recommending to the Supreme Court.

The most significant proposal is that the option of allowing the filing of two different versions of the same pleading, one redacted and one unredacted, would be eliminated, so that all counties would require the use of the Confidential Information Form. (Seven counties currently require the filing of two versions in lieu of the Confidential Information Form. See “Public Access Policy Compliance for Orphans’ Court Filings” for additional information.)

Comments are requested by August 28, 2019.

“Proposed Amendments to the Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System,” 49 Pa.B. 3298 (6/29/2019).