Blog & Resources

From Our “Ask a Question” mailbag: How Does An Executor Recover Stolen Property? “My father was an avid hunter and assembled an impressive gun collection. I am the executor of his Will, and he divided the collection between my sister and myself. During his funeral, my sister left the funeral, drove […]

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: My father remarried and then recently died, how do I locate the Will? I’ve tried to get His wife to produce his will but she will not respond to my calls, he lived in in Bucks County.

Our “Ask a Question” mailbag, addresses the issue of what if you die without a Will.

“My Mom died without a Will as a widow in Philadelphia. How do I sell her home?”

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: The attorney handling my uncle’s Bucks County estate mailed me a Receipt, Release, Refunding and Indemnification Agreement. There are no details about how much he spent or other expenses. If I sign this, do I waive my rights to ask any questions?

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: My mother died a resident of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania survived by three sons. She had no will. One of my brothers has signed a renunciation giving me the right to serve as the Administrator. My other brother is homeless and I don’t know where he is, what can I do?

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: My children would just endlessly fight each other, so I want to name a lawyer as my executor. I see most lawyers charge a percentage of the estate to serve as executor, but your website says you charge by the hour. Which is better?

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: My grandmother died in a senior living facility in Philadelphia. She died without any real assets except for a small bank account and some stock held just her name. Her will said the stock was supposed to be used to pay her last bills and then anything left over would be divided among the grandchildren. We’re confused as to how to sell the stock once we do the transfer paperwork. Do we have to sell it through Computershare or can we sell it through any brokerage?

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: My father recently died a resident of Chester County, PA, but he owned a nice parcel of land in Susquehanna County, which has a Marcellus Shale gas lease. I found a buyer at a great price, as I am worried that the recent drop in oil prices could reduce the land’s value.

My brother was left out of the will, for very good reasons. He contacted the buyer and told him he plans to challenge the will. Now, the buyer might try to back out, as he doesn’t want to get stuck in litigation. My brother is full of bull: he never will challenge the will, as he knows it is bulletproof, but he knows he can draw this out and cause me trouble. What can I do?

Normally, your brother has one year from the date of the will’s filing to bring his Will Challenge. So, if you do nothing, then you just have to wait for the year to expire.

From our “Ask a Question” mailbag: I have served as the Executor for my mother’s Delaware County estate for over a year and wish to close the estate, but my brother claims that I have embezzled money from the estate. This is ridiculous, but how can I close the estate while he makes these claims?

It is unfortunate that your brother is making these claims, but there is a forum available to you that will allow you to bring the estate to a close.

Whenever I am helping my Pennsylvania clients with estate planning, or working with the executor of a Pennsylvania estate, I am given the opportunity to explain how the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax works.

First, let’s break the tax down to its roots. The Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax is a Transfer Tax. It is different from the other taxes which you might pay regularly, like income tax, real estate tax or sales tax. A transfer tax is a tax levied when an asset is transferred from one owner to another. In this case, the transfer tax is taxing the transfer from the deceased to the beneficiary. You have paid transfer taxes in the past if you have ever bought a house or a vehicle with a title. To get the deed or title transferred you paid a fee to the state or county…a transfer tax.