Blog & Resources

The Montgomery County Register of Wills cannot hold or file your Will until after you have died. Your executor will go to the Register’s office in Norristown with the original Will, an original death certificate, an ID and a check. After verifying all is in order, the Register will then file the Will. There is no Pennsylvania procedure to hold Wills of the living.

If you are like most Philadelphians, you are provided the option of participating in a qualified plan program, such as a 401k, 503(b) or TIAA-CREF program. Otherwise, you may have an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or a Roth-IRA that you have formed and funded yourself. These plans are designed to hold assets tax deferred and earmarked for retirement but, with the exception of a ROTH-IRA, when the funds are removed, the deferred income taxes come due.

If you are reading this Article, someone has likely told you that you need or should have a “Revocable Trust” or a “Living Trust”. In fact, you might have been told a horror story about what will happen if you do not have a Living Trust. You also might have attended a seminar where you were told that a Living Trust is a cure-all, and that for a certain dollar amount someone will draft a Revocable Living Trust for you and give it to you in a handsome, faux leather binder.

Is a Revocable Living Trust Right for you? Let me first give you some quick thoughts, then debunk some Revocable Living Trust myths and half truths. Finally, lets talk about the good things a Revocable Living Trust can do so you can deduce if the cost of setting up a Revocable Living Trust makes sense for you.

Most states require that at the time you sign your will you have two witnesses who sign under your name. These are known as “Subscribing Witnesses”. Pennsylvania is an exception to this common practice. In Pennsylvania, you need no Subscribing Witness when you sign your will.

Simply put, a will is a writing that specifies the beneficiaries who are to inherit the testator’s assets, names a representative to administer the estate and who is responsible for distributing the assets to the beneficiaries. To be valid a testator you must have legal capacity when the will is written and follow state law.

Montgomery County probate clients sometimes believe that after filing the original Will with the Montgomery County Register of Wills, the Register will return to them the original document. Usually, this is because they have the experience of filing deeds with the Montgomery County Register of Deeds. After a deed is filed, it traditionally is mailed back to the buyer who may keep the original.

The Philadelphia Register of Wills office is tasked with probating the wills of deceased, Philadelphia residents. Probate is the process by which the will of a deceased Philadelphian is judged by the Register to be valid or invalid.

If you are a resident of Gloucester County, New Jersey, and have executed a valid New Jersey will, that will dictates the distribution of the property you owned at your death. The will is not limited to your property within Gloucester County, and will determine who receives your property no matter where it is located throughout the world.

The short answer is everyone. The plan might be simple or complex, but without a plan you might not address avoidable family conflicts and tax problems.

Estate planning is the process of developing a plan for the transfer of your property at your death. An estate plan can be simple or complex. The need for simplicity or a more complex plan will depend on your own assets, your family dynamics, the possible problems faced by your heirs, tax issues and legal limitations.