The Supreme Court has reversed the Superior Court and ruled that when a trust is created by an agent acting under a power of attorney that is void ab initio, the trust is also void. In re: Joseph L. Koepfinger, … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Power of Attorney
[Update (8/24/2023): The Supreme Court has reversed the Superior Court and reinstated the judgment of the Orphans’ Court.] The Pa. Supreme Court is allowing an appeal from a decision of the Superior Court on the following issue (as stated by … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
Amendments to inter vivos trust document signed by agent (one of settlor’s daughters) were invalid even though the trust document allowed amendments by agents because the power of attorney did not authorize the agent to amend the trust. The attempted … Continue reading
I received some emails recently from someone who was very unhappy that a court was not allowing him to represent a family member in court, even though he had a power of attorney authorizing him to “pursue claims and litigation” … 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
The power “to make gifts, including gifts to my agent,” that was included in a power of attorney signed in 2006, was unlimited, and not limited to gifts to spouse and issue, when the principal had no spouse or issue … Continue reading
Power of attorney did not include power to create joint accounts with rights of survivorship, or to commingle assets of the principal with the agents, so the creation of a joint account was invalid and the money in the account … Continue reading
The successor agent did not have the power to bind the principal to an arbitration agreement when there was no showing that the initial agent named in the power of attorney was “unwilling or unable to act” as attorney-in-fact for … Continue reading
An agent with the power to receive the income or corpus of a trust, as provided in 20 Pa.C.S. § 5602(a)(7), cannot revoke the principal’s revocable trust by withdrawing all of the income and principal; an agent’s power over a … Continue reading