A will which purported to distribute “my entire probate estate” but refers to only specific parcels or items of property was found to be ambiguous and the court looked to the circumstances of the decedent at the time the will … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Intestacy
An award from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund was 100% payable to the surviving spouse as part of her intestate share of the estate in accordance with 20 Pa.C.S. § 2102(2) because it was payable under the Air Transportation Safety … Continue reading
An award from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund was not payable to the surviving spouse, despite the language of 20 Pa.C.S. § 2102(2), because it was not payable under the act specified in that section, the Air Transportation Safety and … Continue reading
The administrator of an estate cannot require an alleged child of the decedent to take a DNA test, and the child may rely on the other factors in 20 Pa.C.S. § 2107(c) to establish paternity. Ackley, Sr. Estate, 10 Fid.Rep.3d … Continue reading
Trust created by agent under power of attorney was invalid because the agent failed to preserve the principal’s estate plan, the principal having no will and the trust benefiting only three of the principal’s seven children. Capobianco Estate, Power of Attorney, … Continue reading
A claim to unclaimed property held by the Pennsylvania Treasury was properly denied when the property was a joint account in the names of the claimant’s mother and half-sister, the mother predeceased the half-sister so that the account became the … Continue reading
Child who was over the age of 18 at death, but who had been adjudicated to be incapacitated, was a “dependent child” within the meaning of 20 Pa.C.S. § 2016(b), and father who had no contact with child for a … Continue reading
Surviving wife held to be sole intestate heir of decedent despite being separated for more than one year, because the court held she did not willfully neglect or maliciously desert. Bortz Estate, 2 Fid. Rep. 3d 342 (O.C. Westm. 2012) … Continue reading