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Beneficiaries of New York estates will often approach us asking our help in keeping an eye on the estate’s executor. This is often the result of the executor not sharing information about the estate with the beneficiary, the executor’s unreasonable delays, or when the executor’s behavior has raised the beneficiary’s concern.

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.

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).