Court Opinions

Case Information
Estate of Marita K. Boyce, an Incapacitated Person
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 1123 IC of 2013 (Herron, J. April 9, 2014)

Topic: Waiver/Objections - Appeal of adjudication of incapacity and appointment of guardian should be quashed where appellant failed to object either with written objections or by appearing at the hearing to oppose such adjudication-A review hearing was the appropriate, more expeditious procedure to challenge the adjudication and it would have been scheduled if requested

Date Rendered
4/9/2014

Judge
HERRON

Case Information
Bridget T. Hasson, Power of Attorney
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No 1669 PR of 2012 (Herron, J. , October 28, 2013)

Topic: Power of Attorney - Petition to remove Agent designated in a Power of Attorney was denied where the Principal failed to appear at the hearing to testify and the testimony of the person seeking to remove the Agent lacked credibility.

Date Rendered
3/28/2014

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Francis Martin
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 735 DE of 2013 (Herron, J. March 26, 2014)

Topic: Executor/Removal - Creditor of an executor, personally, did not have standing to seek his removal as executor where creditor had no claim against the decedent’s estate and the decedent's will contained a spendthrift provision

Date Rendered
3/26/2014

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Erskine Calderon Trust
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 1134 IV of 2013 (Herron, J. March 26, 2014)

Topic: Beneficiaries/Stock - An Option to Purchase/Restrictive Covenant Agreement requiring stockholders who wished to sell their stock to first offer it to the other stockholders in the family corporation and then to the company but did not impose this requirement on spouses or lineal descendants did not render lineal descendants owners of the stock

Date Rendered
3/26/2014

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Stephen Gallagher
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 891 DE of 2011 (Herron, J., March 5, 2014)

Topic: Beneficiary/Life Insurance - Where claimant of decedent's life insurance benefits failed to present proof of his designation as required by the policy, the decedent's parents were entitled to those benefits under the policy's default provisions

Date Rendered
3/5/2014

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Desiree Stevenson, Deceased
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. 302 of 2010 (February 25, 2014, O'KEEFE, Adm. J.)

Topic: Wrongful Death Forfeiture - This case involves a parent's right to receive a share of their child's estate when the other parent accuses them of forfeiture. The Court held that forfeiture under 20 Pa.C.S.A. §2106(b)(1) is found even though the mother of the child tells the father that the child is not his when the father takes no additional steps to determine paternity.

Date Rendered
2/25/2014

Judge
O'KEEFE

Case Information
Estate of Peter D. Simon, Deceased and the Estate of Alma Simon, Deceased
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. 1164 of 2013 and O.C. 622 of 2013 (February 21, 2014, O'KEEFE, Adm. J.)

Topic: Existence of a Gift - Transfers were made from Decedent's checking account following her death. Transferee claimed these transfers were gifts. Court found transferee failed to demonstrate the elements of intent and delivery required for a gift and money belonged to decedent's estate.

Date Rendered
2/21/2014

Judge
O'KEEFE

Case Information
Estate of Alicia M. Harmon, Deceased
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. 2596 of 2013 (February 20, 2014, O'KEEFE, Adm. J.)

Topic: Forfeiture of Wrongful Death Proceeds - No forfeiture by father of decedent where Petitioner had failed to demonstrate that the adult decedent was a dependent or that the father of decedent had failed to support or deserted the decedent upwards of a year prior to her death.

Date Rendered
2/20/2014

Judge
O'KEEFE

Case Information
Archdiocesan Cemeteries, Non-Profit Corporation
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 1366 NP of 2013 (Herron, J. February 4, 2014)

Topic: Non-profit Corporation/Charitable Purposes - The proposed lease by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia with a third-party cemetery company to maintain and operate thirteen Archdiocesan cemeteries did not constitute a diversion of property from its charitable purpose

Date Rendered
2/4/2014

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Robert D. Clark, Sr., Deceased
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. 1653 of 2010 (January 24, 2014, O'KEEFE, Adm. J.)

Topic: Joint Accounts - Money transferred from decedent's joint checking account while decedent was alive was ordered to be paid back to the estate upon the finding that the money in the account was solely contributed by decedent. Per 20 Pa.C.S. § 6303(a) a joint account belongs in life to the parties in proportion to their contribution. / IRA Proceeds: partially completed change of beneficiary form discovered after death did not negate the distribution of the proceeds as dictated by decedent's will.

Date Rendered
1/24/2014

Judge
O'KEEFE

Case Information
Raymond and Ruth Perelman Education Foundation
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 519 IV of 2013 (Herron, J. December 4, 2013)

Topic: Trust/Standing - The executor of his mother's estate lacked standing to obtain books and records of charitable foundations that she founded together with her husband as trustees where she signed an amendment of the trust document that gave her husband authority to amend the trust document and he subsequently removed her as trustee – The executor cannot obtain an accounting from the trust where the trust document states that no accounting was required unless the original trustee insisted on one.

Date Rendered
12/4/2013

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Boris Krichmar, Deceased and the Estate of Valeriy Krichmar, Deceased
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. 1788 of 2006 and O.C. 545 DE of 2011 (November 27, 2013, O'KEEFE, Adm. J.)

Topic: Simultaneous Death - Where insured and beneficiary on a life insurance policy died and there is not sufficient evidence as to the priority of death the proceeds of the policy were distributed as if the insured had survived the beneficiary. Fire insurance proceeds for both real property and personal property were split equally between tenants in common where both died simultaneously. Although no full homeowner's insurance policy could be produced, both of the tenants in common made payments on the mortgage, lived in the residence and made payments on the fire insurance policy out of a joint account.

Date Rendered
11/27/2013

Judge
O'KEEFE

Case Information
Estate of Thomas J. Cunningham, Jr.
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. 900 IC of 1997 (November 25, 2013, O'KEEFE, Adm. J.)

Topic: Petition for Allowance - The case involves a request that payment be made to a Guardian of an Incapacitated Person in the form of an encumbrance of the Incapacitated Person's home. The Court held that it was not in the best interests of the Incapacitated Person because of the Incapacitated Person's age and previous encumbrances to the property that were already granted.

Date Rendered
11/25/2013

Judge
O'KEEFE

Case Information
Estate of Ruth C. Perelman, Deceased
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 153 DE of 2012 (Herron, J., November 7, 2013)

Topic: Appeal - An appeal by decedent’s husband of an order that she was domiciled in Philadelphia at the time of her death did not deprive the court of jurisdiction to consider other petitions filed after that ruling - The ruling on domicile was neither a final order nor an interlocutory order appealable as of right

Date Rendered
11/7/2013

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Albert J. Wood
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. 240 IV of 2009 (September 17, 2013, O'KEEFE, Adm. J.)

Topic: Trustee Resignation - The case involves whether a Trustee effectively resigned from his post and whether he could be surcharged for activities that occurred after the alleged resignation. The Court held that, despite minimal defects, the resignation was effective and no surcharge was warranted.

Date Rendered
9/17/2013

Judge
O'KEEFE

Case Information
Ruth C. Perelman, Appeal from Register
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 153 AP of 2012 (Herron, J. July 23, 2013)

Date Rendered
7/23/2013

Judge
Herron

Case Information
United States On Leong, Non-Profit Corporation
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. 491 of 2011 (June 28, 2013, O'KEEFE, Adm. J.)

Topic: Declaratory Judgment - The case involved a dispute between members of a local and national organization. The Court held that the national organization did not have the authority to take over the local organization's property and finances because there was no history of strict adherence to the national organizations' rules throughout the 100 years of the local organization's history.

Date Rendered
6/28/2013

Judge
O'KEEFE

Case Information
Lemual A. Frye, Intevivos Trust
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
Trust of Frye, O.C. No. 1380 IV of 2012 (Herron, J., April 22,, 2013)

Topic: Standing to Compel Accounting – Petitioners lacked standing to compel an accounting of a trust where they failed to assert that they were trust beneficiaries, creditors or another party with a substantial interest in the trust – Petition to compel trust accounting denied when it sought an accounting by the attorney who drafted the trust document rather than from the named trustee

Date Rendered
4/22/2013

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Leonard Brooks, Appeal from Register
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 1309 AP of 2010 (Herron, J. April 3, 2013)

Topic: Revocation of Letters by Register - Where the grant of letters of administration by the Register of Wills is appealed, the scope of review by the Orphans’ Court is limited to abuse of discretion – Register did not abuse his discretion by revoking letters where the administrator failed to acknowledge other potential intestate heirs- Under Pennsylvania law, Register has authority to determine paternity for purposes of granting letters – A ruling as to a fiduciary is not tantamount to a ruling as to distribution

Date Rendered
4/3/2013

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Anna Bitschenauer, an Incapacitated Person
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 1518 IC of 2011 (February 11, 2013, Herron, J.)

Topic: Power of Attorney – Agent was ordered to return $433,518 to the guardian of her principal where she made gifts to herself and her husband not specifically authorized by the power of attorney document – Agent acted unwisely by making payments to her husband for work not yet performed - Agent improperly paid herself fees that were prohibited by the power of attorney document

Date Rendered
2/11/2013

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Jahira Smith, Deceased
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. 1288 of 2011 (February 7, 2013, O'KEEFE, Adm. J.)

Topic: Forfeiture under Wrongful Death - The case involved whether a parent can be deemed to have forfeited a child for the purposes of recovering from the child's estate when that parent was incarcerated during the last year of the child's life and whether visiting a child in a coma was enough to establish support for the purposes of the statue. The Court held that the legislature likely did not intend to toll the forfeiture statute for the time a person is incarcerated and that the child's awareness of the support determined whether the parent performed their duty to support.

Date Rendered
2/7/2013

Judge
O'KEEFE

Case Information
Estate of Giuseppe Martelli, Deceased
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 1781 DE of 2011 (July 24, 2012, Herron, J.)

Topic: Removal of Co-Executors and Co-Trustees – Where Co-Executors and Co-Trustees admitted that they had failed to transfer decedent’s business interests to the estate, they conceded a “failure to perform a duty imposed by law” and were properly removed under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3182 – Where the hostility among Co-Trustees and Co-Executors prevented the administration of the trusts and estates removal of the fiduciaries was necessary

Date Rendered
7/24/2012

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Gabriel Robles, Deceased
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 685 DE of 2011 (July 17, 2012, Herron, J.)

Topic: DPW Payments Without Consent – Petition by attorney to “disgorge” payments to DPW made without the consent of the Administratrix of the decedent’s estate or without the court ordered approval by Orphans’ Court is denied - Attorney acted beyond his implied or apparent authority in tendering DPW payments

Date Rendered
7/17/2012

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Helen D’Angelis
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 1302 DE of 2011 (April 23, 2012, Herron, J.)

Topic: Spousal Election/Incapacitated Person – Incapacitated Person, through his guardian, could not assert an election to take an elective share of his deceased wife’s estate without court approval under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2206

Date Rendered
4/23/2012

Judge
Herron

Case Information
Estate of Eleanor Boss Fluellen, Appeal from Register
Court of Common Pleas, Orphans' Division
O.C. No. 240 AP of 2011 (April 9, 2012, Herron, J.)

Topic: Grant of Letters of Administration/Abuse of Discretion – It was an abuse of discretion under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3155 and 20 Pa.C.S. §2102 to grant letters of administration to a grandniece and grandnephew of decedent after revoking letters that had been granted to the only child of decedent’s surviving spouse – where decedent died intestate without surviving parent or issue, under the laws of intestacy her entire estate passed to her surviving spouse

Date Rendered
4/9/2012

Judge
Herron