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Tag: Fiduciary Duty

Compelling Chester County Executor to Pay Your Inheritance

Posted on Mon Mar 16, 2015, on Estate Litigation

My Grandmother died three years ago in Chester County leaving me a lump sum in her Will. The house is sold, the taxes are paid but I have not received my inheritance. The executor will not return my calls, what can I do?

As the heir of a Chester County estate, you do have the right to force the Executor to provide you with a time line when you will receive your inheritance. If the executor will not give you one voluntarily, you can have your Chester County Orphans’ Court lawyer file a Petition for Accounting with the Chester County Orphans’ Court. The executor must reply, or face potential removal and surcharge.

Klenk Law

Keeping an Eye on the Personal Representative in Florida

Posted on Fri Nov 7, 2014, on Estate Litigation

Beneficiaries of Florida estates will often approach us asking our help in keeping an eye on the estate’s Personal Representative (in most states this person is called an executor). This is often the result of the Personal Representative not sharing information about the estate with the beneficiary, the Personal Representative’s unreasonable delays, or when the Personal Representative’s behavior has raised the beneficiary’s concern.

Klenk Law

Executors and Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax in Chester County, PA

Posted on Fri Oct 17, 2014, on Probate and Estate Administration

Question: As the Executor, if I sell my mother’s Chester County home, do I have to pay the Pennsylvania probate tax before dividing up the sale proceeds with my siblings?

First, let’s clarify a few things. In Pennsylvania the “probate tax” is the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax. Because the estate is being divided up between the mother’s children, that rate is 4.5% on the date of death value of her entire taxable estate. The house is included in that taxable estate.

Klenk Law

How Does an Executor Remove a Squatter from Estate Property in Philadelphia County, PA

Posted on Tue Oct 7, 2014, on Probate and Estate Administration

Question: As the Executor of a Philadelphia estate, can I hire an eviction attorney to remove a squatter from a rental owned by the estate?

It is the executor’s duty to protect the estate assets and to make them profitable. If the estate has a rental unit with a squatter, the beneficiaries could try to hold the executor responsible for lost rent if he does not act. Because this is an estate asset the executor is trying to optimize, he is free to use estate assets to retain an expert to assist in the eviction.

Klenk Law

Correctly Timing Orphans Court Discovery

Posted on Mon Jun 30, 2014, on Estate Litigation

Whenever a fiduciary files an Orphans’ Court Accounting, whether the filing is by an Agent under a Power of Attorney, a Trustee of a Trust or the Executor of an Estate, a person interested in that accounting has a handicap. The person filing the accounting has all the information; the beneficiary has only what the fiduciary has given them.

Interested persons do have a right to object to an accounting, but if, for example, the beneficiary does not have access to the bank statements, how exactly does the beneficiary know if the charges reflected on the accounting are accurate?

Klenk Law

Fiduciary Liability

Posted on Tue May 22, 2012, on Estate Litigation

I. Standard of Care for Fiduciaries:

A. Prudent Person Standard: The standard of care to which a fiduciary is held in Pennsylvania is that of “common skill, prudence and caution as a prudent man, under similar circumstances, would exercise in the management of his own estate.” In re Estate of Denlinger, 449 Pa. 393, 396, 297 A.2d 478, 480 (1972); In re Musser’s Estate, 341 Pa. 1, 9-10, 17 A2d 411, 415 (1941); In re Estate of Lohm, 440 Pa 268, 269 A.2d 451 (1970); In re Estate of Lerch, 399 Pa. 59, 159 A.2d 506 (1960).

Klenk Law

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