PA Specific

Trusts, Estates & Probate

4.18

Pennsylvania Probate Process: In 7 Simple Steps

Credits Available
Credit Status Total
New York CLE Approved 7 Total
Pennsylvania CLE Approved 6 Total
OnDemand
5 hours 55 minutes
Kathryn Crary
Ashley Sharek
Rebecca Bowman
John Metzger
Benjamin Johns
With Kathryn Crary from Gadsden Schneider & Woodward LLP + 4 others
Recorded July 25, 2024
Product ID 98583

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Overview

Learn How to Handle Assets, Taxes, Personal Representatives, and More!

This step-by-step practical instruction offers essential knowledge of probate processes and best practices for handling each unique case effectively. Learn how to tackle crucial first steps; handle the personal executive; gather, value, and distribute all assets; and successfully complete the final accounting and tax returns. Arm yourself with the foundational knowledge and best practices you need to ensure a smooth administration from start to finish. Register today!

  • Don't overlook anything important: confidently navigate critical first steps.
  • Understand executor powers, duties, responsibilities, and compensation guidelines.
  • Learn how to effectively marshal and inventory all assets.
  • Pick up tips for validating, prioritizing, and satisfying creditor claims.
  • Get practical guidance for post-mortem planning, trust administration, and tax hurdles.
  • Put the decedent's affairs to rest by making distributions, filing the final tax return, and completing the final accounting.
  • Discover how to litigate deed contests, lost or contested wills, fiduciary misconduct, and more.

Abbreviated Agenda

  1. Opening the Estate
  2. Preparing the Personal Representatives for the Job
  3. Managing the Estate: Valuations, Spousal Share, and More
  4. Handling Estate Closing, Final Accounting, and Tax Returns
  5. Post-Mortem Tax Planning, Distributions, and Trust Administration
  6. Addressing Creditor Claims
  7. Resolving Disputes and Navigating Probate Litigation
  8. Maintaining an Ethical Practice

Related Topics

Product ID 98583

Credit Details

Credits Available
Credit Status Total
New York CLE Approved 7 Total
Pennsylvania CLE Approved 6 Total
Select Jurisdiction
CLE

Agenda

All times are shown in

  1. Opening the Estate

    1. What to Do in the First 48 Hours
    2. Obtaining the Will and Getting it Admitted
    3. Locating and Notifying the Beneficiaries
    4. Determining if the Estate Qualifies for a Small Estate Administration
    5. The Estate Timeline - What Must be Done When
    6. Filing the Initial Petition With the Probate Court: Forms and Procedures
    7. Sending Initial Notices to the Public and to State Agencies
    8. Closing the Decedent's Accounts
    9. Obtaining the Estate Tax ID
    10. Laws of Intestacy

  2. Preparing the Personal Representatives for the Job

    1. Educating PRs on Their Duties, Powers, and Responsibilities
    2. Compiling Personal Representative Guide/Instructions
    3. Clarifying Executor Compensation
    4. Advising PRs on Potential Problems and Liability

  3. Managing the Estate: Valuations, Spousal Share, and More

    1. Marshalling and Valuing Decedent's Assets
    2. Initial Inventory
    3. Maintenance and Management
    4. Determining Elective Share and Homestead Allowance
    5. Spousal Rights: Electing vs. Disclaiming the Share
    6. Claiming Homestead Allowance
    7. Portability Rules; Claiming Unused Lifetime Exclusion
    8. Estate Expenses: Payment and Record-Keeping
    9. What to Do With the Income the Estate is Producing

  4. Handling Estate Closing, Final Accounting, and Tax Returns

    1. Tax Returns and Deadlines - Estate and Income, State and Federal, Decedent's and the Estate's
    2. Informal Closing by Statement of Personal Representative
    3. Compiling and Balancing the Final Account
    4. Final Distributions to Beneficiaries and Liability of Distributees
    5. Closing the Estate and Discharging the Fiduciary

  5. Post-Mortem Tax Planning, Distributions, and Trust Administration

    1. Managing the Tax Consequences of Elections and Receipt of Non-Probate Assets (e.g. IRA Distributions)
    2. Tax Implications of Transfers
    3. Creating Trusts and Subtrusts for Multiple Beneficiaries to Receive Their Shares of the Estate
    4. What to Do With Bequests and Trust Distributions to Minors
    5. Post-Mortem Tax Planning Approaches: How Much Maneuver Room is Left?
    6. How to Calculate the Omitted Spouse Share or Omitted Child Share
    7. Guarding Disabled Adult Beneficiaries' Benefits Eligibility

  6. Addressing Creditor Claims

    1. Issuing Notices to Creditors: What Works Best
    2. Validating Claims
    3. Determining the Priority of Creditor Rights
    4. Selling Property to Satisfy Claims: What to Sell, How to Do it, and How to Properly Record it
    5. Satisfying Tax Claims and Liens

  7. Resolving Disputes and Navigating Probate Litigation

    1. Will Contests, Deed Contests, Allegations of Undue Influence and Other Causes of Action
    2. Obtaining Court Guidance for Proposed Actions Regarding the Estate Administration
    3. Probate Litigation Rules, Procedures, and Evidentiary Provisions
    4. Fiduciary Misconduct, Liability, Disputes with Beneficiaries
    5. Effective Approaches to Resolving Disputes Without Going to Court

  8. Maintaining an Ethical Practice

    1. Whom do You Represent? Conflicts of Interest
    2. Protecting Client Confidentiality
    3. Attorney Fees
    4. Practicing Law in More Than One State

Who Should Attend

This basic level online seminar is designed for:

  • Attorneys
  • Accountants
  • Tax Professionals
  • Trust Officers
  • Executors and Other Fiduciaries
  • Paralegals

Speakers

Kathryn Crary
Kathryn
Crary
Gadsden Schneider & Woodward LLP
Ashley E Sharek
Ashley E.
Sharek
Entrusted Legacy Law
Rebecca A Bowman
Rebecca A.
Bowman
Rebecca A. Bowman, P.E.
John W Metzger
John W.
Metzger
Metzger and Spencer, LLP
Benjamin S Johns
Benjamin S.
Johns
Jones, Gregg, Creehan & Gerace, LLP
Speaker bio
Kathryn Crary

Kathryn Crary

Gadsden Schneider & Woodward LLP
Kathryn Crary

is of counsel with Gadsden Schneider & Woodward LLP. Her practice focuses on sophisticated estate planning for high net worth individuals, charitable planning, estate and trust administration, and Orphans' Court litigation, including guardianships. Ms. Crary has significant experience in the creation and management of nonprofit organizations. She is a member of the Philadelphia (Probate and Trust Law Section), Pennsylvania and American bar associations. Ms. Crary is a regular presenter on the topics of estate planning, and the taxation of estates and trusts. She earned her A.B. degree, with distinction, from Cornell University; and her J.D. degree, magna cum laude, and LL.M. degree in taxation from Temple University Beasley School of Law.

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Speaker bio
Ashley E Sharek

Ashley E. Sharek

Entrusted Legacy Law
Ashley Sharek

is the founding attorney at Sharek Law Office, LLC (trade name Entrusted Legacy Law). Her considerable legal expertise includes family protection, wealth preservation and values-based planning, as well as planning strategies for unmarried couples and divorced individuals. Ms. Sharek earned her B.A. degree from Westminster College and her J.D. degree from Duquesne University Law School. She has since been admitted before the U.S. Tax Court, successfully defending an innocent spousal relief case against the IRS. Ms. Sharek is a member of WealthCounsel, a national organization of trusts and estates attorneys and other legal, tax and business professionals who design sophisticated planning techniques for individuals and families. She is admitted to practice before all Pennsylvania state courts and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

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Speaker bio
Rebecca A Bowman

Rebecca A. Bowman

Rebecca A. Bowman, P.E.
Rebecca Bowman

ESQ., P.E., D.F.E is the principal of Rebecca A. Bowman, P.E. She focuses her practice in estate planning and administration, guardianship and conservatorship, as well as real estate. Mrs. Bowman is a certified arbitrator and mediator, and a registered professional engineer. She is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, American Arbitration Association, and the American Bar Association; and is a long-time columnist on risk management for the PE Reporter. Mrs. Bowman earned her B.S. in civil structural of engineering degree from the University of North Dakota, her M.B.A. degree from Oklahoma University and her J.D. degree from Duquesne University School of Law. She was recently named the Senior Director for Ethics and Professional Responsibility for the National Society of Professional Engineers.

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Speaker bio
John W Metzger

John W. Metzger

Metzger and Spencer, LLP
John Metzger

is a partner in the Lancaster firm of Metzger and Spencer, LLP, where he practices in the areas of taxation, probate, trusts, estate planning, business entities, real estate, orphans' court practice, orphans' court litigation, and zoning law. He is chairman of the Lancaster Township Zoning Hearing Board, and a member of the Lancaster and Pennsylvania bar associations. Mr. Metzger recently completed his term as a member of the Real Property Probate and Trusts Law Section Council. He has volunteered and served as the estate planning expert for Wills for Heroes. Mr. Metzger served several terms as a trustee of The Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster County, chairman of its Planning and Giving Committee, and chairman of the Heritage Museum at Penn Square. He recently concluded service on both the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County, and as a member of the Preservation Action Committee. Mr. Metzger earned his B.A. degree, cum laude, from the University of Richmond and his J.D. degree from Temple University School of Law.

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Speaker bio
Benjamin S Johns

Benjamin S. Johns

Jones, Gregg, Creehan & Gerace, LLP
Benjamin Johns

is an attorney with Jones, Gregg, Creehan & Gerace, LLP in downtown Pittsburgh. He focuses his practice squarely on the "four pillars" of the Orphans' Court: estate planning, estate administration, estate litigation and guardianship. Mr. Johns is active in the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Real Property, Probate and Trust Section, and many elder law and estate planning groups. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from the Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh in 2005, and his Juris Doctorate from Duquesne University School of Law in 2009.

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