Blog & Resources

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: My husband’s aunt willed him a share of the proceeds of her jewelry, but the executor told us that the money was mine and sent me a check. We looked up the will ourselves at the Gloucester County Surrogate, and it looks like my husband should get more money. The executor will not answer our questions, so what can we do?

As an heir listed in the will, your husband has the legal right to force the executor to account for the estate. New Jersey has a system where the executor, or personal representative, is given a great deal of freedom without official oversight. This system relies on the heirs bringing mismanagement to the Surrogate’s attention.

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: My neighbor promised to give me her Philadelphia house in her will. She died recently and her son, who did not talk to her for 10 years, has filed a Will from the 1970s that gives him everything. Can I challenge that will?

If I understand the facts correctly, your neighbor died and — to the best of your knowledge — her most recent will was the one her son filed with the Philadelphia Register of Wills. That will is very old, but — again, as far as you know — is the most recent Will she signed. Though she verbally promised to give you the house in Philadelphia, she failed to write a new will that backs up your claim.

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: My Grandmother died three years ago in Lehigh County leaving me a lump sum in her Will. The house is sold and 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 Lehigh estate, you have the right to force the executor to provide you with a timeline for when you will receive your inheritance. If the executor will not give you one voluntarily, you can have your Lehigh County Orphans’ Court lawyer file a Petition for Accounting with the court. The executor must reply, or face potential removal and surcharge.

Question: Can a Trustee be removed because he did not inform the beneficiaries of the irrevocable trust when they came of age? This Trust is in Camden, New Jersey.

Maybe.

A trustee removal action can be a long and painful process, so no action should be taken without having an experienced New Jersey Surrogates Court attorney review the trust and interview the interested parties.

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?

Case included in selected Pennsylvania cases involving trusts and decedent’s estates

One of Attorney Glen Ridenour’s estate litigation cases has been selected for publication by the Pennsylvania Fiduciary Reporter. The case, in the Orphans’ Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County, deals with the Estate of Robert T. Fawley, Sr., deceased.

Read the full case in PDF or Word format.