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Pa Last Wills

Pa Estate Planning – Intro – 1

Pa Estate Planning – Intro – 1

An attorney who specializes in Pa Estate Planning can help you create a complete plan to protect your spouse and children if you become unable to manage your financial affairs. Pa Estate Planning allows you to make decisions now so your wishes can be carried out if you die or become incapacitated.

Pa Estate Planning – Intro – Planning Ahead is Important

For the average person, all of these documents can seem confusing and a bit overwhelming. Pa Estate Planning attorney John B. Whalen, Jr. Esq. can help you decide which documents you need and how best to plan ahead so that your wishes are carried out.

By John B. Whalen, Jr., Esq. on 0

Filed Under: Pa Estate PlanningTagged With: , , ,

Contest Fathers Will?

Can I contest my fathers will, he left all of his assets to charity?

My father recently died at the age of 94. My niece has been the power of attorney and now the executor of his will. She told me he left all his assets including the proceeds from sale of his property when it sells to St Judes and nothing to me or my sister. He died in Pennsylvania and thats where the will is filed. The house is located in Maryland. I live in Florida.

By John B. Whalen, Jr., Esq. on 0

Filed Under: Pa Estate LitigationTagged With:

Pa Executors and Duties

A Pa Executor has many responsibilities.

  • Probating the Pa Will
  • Providing various mandated court filings
  • Obtaining an Estate E.I.N. number
  • Preserving the Estate’s assets
  • Satisfying the Estate’s creditors
  • Notifying Beneficiaries and Heirs
  • Filing the Decedent’s final Income Tax returns
  • Filing the Estate’s Inheritance and/or Estate Tax Returns
  • Filing the Estate’s Fiduciary Income Tax returns
  • Providing an accounting of all of the estate items
  • Distributing the assets to the beneficiaries (Will) or heirs (no Will)

Choose your Executor with extreme care

  • Be aware of your Executor’s traits
  • Be aware of the Estate’s Fiduciary Income Tax returns
  • Be aware of the Decedent’s final Income Tax returns

As an Executor, please be aware that

  • You can be held personally liable for unpaid taxes
  • You should be careful of the advice you receive and what you hear
  • You should ensure that the Income Tax returns were filed in your Estate
  • With all of the recent talk of the Estate Tax, the Income Tax side is as vital

[bctt tweet=”Choose Your Pa Executor under your Pa Last Will with care.”]

By John B. Whalen, Jr., Esq. on 0

Filed Under: Pa Last WillsTagged With: ,

Pa Last Wills and Taxes

Be aware that Wills and Probate are extremely tax intensive.

It will begin with Estate Planning
It will continue with the Will’s vital tax clause
It will impact the client’s Asset Titles
It will extend through Probate
It will impact the beneficiaries tax obligations
It may resolve through the Estate Administration
It can extend far beyond the Estate’s conclusion

Extremely likely is the fact that the tax returns required in Pa are

The Pa Inheritance Tax Return
The Federal Estate Tax Return (depending)
The Decedent’s final Federal Income Tax Return
The Decedent’s final Pennsylvania Income Tax Return
The Estate’s Federal Fiduciary Income Tax Return(s)
The Estate’s Pennsylvania Income Tax Return(s)

By John B. Whalen, Jr., Esq. on 0

Filed Under: Pa Last WillsTagged With: , ,

Pa Estate Documents – Summary

Diagram of Pa Estate Planning

An attorney who specializes in estate planning can help you create a complete plan to protect your spouse and children if you become unable to manage your financial affairs. Estate planning allows you to make decisions now so your wishes can be carried out if you die or become incapacitated.

Pa Power of Attorney

When you execute a legal document called a power of attorney, you are authorizing another individual to make certain decisions on your behalf. The person who signs the document is called the principal and the person who is authorized to make decisions is known as the agent or attorney-in-fact.

A limited power of attorney restricts the permissible activities of the agent to a specific period of time. For instance, if you are in the military and are being deployed overseas for six months, you can set up a limited power of attorney with an individual you trust. That person may be granted access to your bank account so they can pay your mortgage or other monthly expenses while you are away from home.

A durable power of attorney, unlike other forms of this type of legal document, does not expire if the principal becomes incapacitated. The agent may continue to make financial and medical decisions as indicated in the original document.

Pa Living Will

Living wills are also referred to as an “Advance Directive For Health Care.” It is a legal document that communicates your desire in the treatment of serious medical problems in the event that you are unable to speak for yourself. They do not go into effect unless you are incapacitated and unable to express yourself. Having Living Will can relieve your close relatives from the burden of having to make the decision about whether to remove you from life support.

Pa Trust

Trusts are legal documents that allow you to control how your assets will be allocated or managed. You are considered the grantor and the person that manages and distributes assets in the trust is known as the trustee. Individuals who receive money or other assets are the beneficiaries.

Property placed in a trust, unlike wills, is not subject to probate. You can also create a revocable trust which can be canceled or revoked at any time while you are alive. Trusts can be set up for a child’s education or to reduce estate taxes.

Pa Last Will

A Last Will is an important document to execute in order to avoid disputes about how your assets will be divided when you die. The executor who administers the distribution of assets from your estate will allocate your possessions as you specified. You should periodically review your Will to make sure it is still relevant and accurate. Life changing events, such as the birth of a child or a marriage, may require amendments to the original document.

If you die without a will, you are said to die intestate. In such a case, the state will handle your estate and your assets may not get to the people, institutions or charitable causes that you wanted.

Planning Ahead is Important

For the average person, all of these documents can seem confusing and a bit overwhelming. Estate planning attorney John B. Whalen, Jr. can help you decide which documents you need and how best to plan ahead so that your wishes are carried out.

By John B. Whalen, Jr., Esq. on 0

Filed Under: Pa Estate PlanningTagged With: , , , ,

Pa Common Law Marriage – Intro – 1

Pa Common Law Marriage …

was recognized by the Pa Supreme Court 140 years ago.
was questioned by the Pa Supreme Court 15 years ago.
was abolished by the Pa Commonwealth Court in 2003?

Pa Common Law Marriage – Caution

As a caution, however, it is important to keep in mind that the Commonwealth Court may not be the final word here. Decisions from this court are always subject to being appealed to – and overruled by – the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Decisions from this court control only a limited scope of lower courts and administrative agencies (i.e., workers compensation, unemployment compensation, certain taxation issues, etc.).

Pa Common Law Marriage – Note

This paper was presented on October 20, 2003. Since that time, the Pennsylvania Legislature, did in fact, render common law marriage proactively invalid after January 1, 2005, by statute (23 1103), stating that “[n]o common-law marriage contracted after January 1, 2005, shall be valid. Nothing in this part shall be deemed or taken to render any common-law marriage otherwise lawful and contracted on or before January 1, 2005, invalid.” (Nov. 23, 2004, P.L.954, No.144, eff. 60 days)).

This paper – “Pa Abolishes Common Law Marriage” – was also subsequently published on the Martindale-Hubbell website.

In a fascinatingly historical and extensively detailed majority opinion, (both factually and legally), as well as an equally well presented, yet briefer, minority opinion, the Commonwealth Court analyzed and reviewed the scenarios and reasons long ago forgotten that gave rise to a doctrine no longer needed.

These will be reviewed in the next parts.

By John B. Whalen, Jr., Esq. on 0

Filed Under: Pa Estate PlanningTagged With: , , , ,

Pa Probate – Register of Wills – 4

Pa Probate – 4 – Register of Wills

After the Will is located (or it is determined that the decedent had no will), the next step in the Pa Estate Administration process is to open the Estate and have a personal representative appointed.

This is done by going to the Register of Wills in the County in which the decedent resided. The Register of Wills is part of the Court of Common Pleas, which has jurisdiction over the estate administration. The Executor named in the Will should be appointed as the personal representative (if the decedent died intestate, an Administrator will be appointed).

Testate (with a Will)

If a person dies with a Last Will, they died “Testate.”

The Register of Wills then normally appoints, from the person named in the Will, a Personal Representative (Executor or Executrix) to handle the Estate affairs.

Intestate (without a Will)

Ia a person dies without a Last Will, they died “Intestate.”

The person who will be appointed as the Personal Representative depends upon their relationship with the deceased. Preference is given to adults who have not been declared incapacitated, in the order in which they would take portions of the estate, under the intestate laws.

A person who would otherwise be qualified to administer the estate may file a renunciation with the Register of Wills, asking that someone else be appointed instead. The renunciation only gives up the right to administer the estate. It does not waive the right to inherit the interest in the estate.

By John B. Whalen, Jr., Esq. on 0

Filed Under: Pa ProbateTagged With: , , ,

How Do You Revoke A Pa Will?

§ 2505. Revocation of a will.

No will or codicil in writing, or any part thereof, can be revoked or altered otherwise than:

(1)  Will or codicil. By some other will or codicil in writing;

(2)  Other writing. By some other writing declaring the same, executed and proved in the manner required of wills; or

(3)  Act to the document. By being burnt, torn, canceled, obliterated, or destroyed, with the intent and for the purpose of revocation, by the testator himself or by another person in his presence and by his express direction. If such act is done by any person other than the testator, the direction of the testator must be proved by the oaths or affirmations of two competent witnesses.

Revocation Of A Will

By John B. Whalen, Jr., Esq. on 0

Filed Under: Pa Last WillsTagged With: ,

Pa Probate – Intro – 1

Pa Probate – Intro -1

As I stated in Pa Estate Law – Intro – 1, misinformation about, and misuse of, critical legal terms tends to lead to misunderstandings of estate planning.

These misunderstandings, in turn, tend to lead to mistakes in estate planning.

These mistakes, again, in turn, tend to lead to unintended results after one’s death.

Pa Probate – Intro – 1

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” (Mark Twain).

The Pa Probate and Pa Estate Administration process is an intricate and confusing process.

In keeping with Mark Twain’s astute observation, this category of posts will focus on the proper and accurate definitions of legal terms that are so often misused in today’s social atmosphere, television and radio media, and society in general such as Pa Inheritance Tax, Federal Estate Tax, Pa Probate (and avoiding Pa Probate), Pa Short Certificates, Pa Fiduciary Income Tax Returns, and Pa Model Court Accountings.

By John B. Whalen, Jr., Esq. on 0

Filed Under: Pa ProbateTagged With: , , , ,