Skip to Content

We are a Veteran Owned Business, providing 20% discounts for Veterans, First Responders, Elementary and High School teachers. Please contact us to set up a phone or Zoom meeting. Taking care of you and your family, It's What We Do!

I Was Served With a Petition for Accounting, What do I do?

Posted on Tue Sep 29, 2015, on Estate Litigation

Most Recently Updated Sept. 18, 2017.

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: Petition for Accounting Explained.

Petition for Accounting

Estate Litigation Lawyer, Flora Novick.

“I am the executor of my father’s estate in Lehigh County. My sister and I do not speak, so the process has been terrible. She refuses to sign the family settlement agreement I sent her and instead has filed a Petition for Accounting in the Orphans’ Court to make me submit a formal account. So, do I need to respond?”

As an Executor, You Must Respond to a Petition for Accounting.

Yes, you must respond to the petition. As a beneficiary, your sister has every right to ask that you file a formal account with the Court. She does not have to show that you have done anything wrong, only that she is a beneficiary. She may have done you a favor.  From what you have said, it appears that she was never going to sign your family settlement agreement. If she didn’t sign the agreement, you might have dragged the estate administration on potentially for years. Now you get a court-mandated end date.

How to Respond to the Petition for Accounting.

You will need to file an accounting in a highly specific format, so you are best served by having an experienced Pennsylvania Probate Attorney assist you. In your case, you should find a Probate Attorney who has plenty of Formal Accounting experience.  Further, experience before the court in Leigh County would be a plus.  

You will retain your Probate Attorney as the Executor. 

Take Special Care With Litigious Heirs.

As your sister is hostile, it is also advisable that you have a firm experienced in Lehigh County Orphans’ Court litigation. Your sister will have the chance to object to your accounting, and you will have to address those objections to the Court.  Procedures and rules must be followed.  It is best to have an excellent accounting submitted, which will make you look better to the court. Once the judge has ruled on all the objections, there will be a final order, which would finally release you as executor. Your sister may not have signed the family settlement agreement, but you will now get the same result but through a judge.

How to Respond to a Petition for Accounting?

In conclusion, in this Post, I tried to explain how to answer a Petition for Accounting. So, let me know how I did, comments and questions are welcome!

Feel free to contact me with further questions or contact our office to set up a free consultation.

Wills, Trusts, Probate, and Estate Litigation It’s All We Do!

Author, Peter Klenk, Esq.

Tags:

Estate Litigation, Estate Litigation Attorney, Estate Litigation Lawyer, Family Settlement Agreement, Flora Novick, Formal Accounting, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Probate, Probate Att, Probate Lawyer

Peter KlenkPeter Klenk

What Our clients are saying

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

CHARLES TOLL

Excellent, knowledgeable team handled a complicated issue with superb results.

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

Ian Marchant

Mr. Klenk, quickly understood the circumstances presented and provided clear and concise advice. This advice provided me with the information I required to progress the case to my advantage.

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

Peter J. Gutekunst, CFP®

I've worked with and known Peter Klenk and his associates for years. They are highly professional, diligent and truly experts in their field. By focusing on just wills, trusts, and estates, Klenk law has experienced every angle of estate planning and applied that knowledge to help prepare our clients with thorough and comprehensive documents.

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

B.A.

Peter Klenk and his associates are responsive and professional - It is a pleasure to work with their team. If you have needs in estate planning or administration, they are the firm to go to in the Philadelphia area!

Klenk Law Logo
Stars

Elizabeth Ray

Peter and his associates were a pleasure to work with. He explained the process clearly and provided assistance nearly instantaneously. Highly recommended for trusts-and-estates-related needs!

Let us put our expertise to work for you.

Free consultation within 24 hours.