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(2) Accounts shall be stated on 8 1/2" by 11" paper, fastened together at the top and numbered consecutively at the bottom.
(3) Every account filed with the Clerk shall be signed by each accountant and shall be verified by at least one accountant.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY
ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION
IN THE MATTER OF _______________ ESTATE
FIRST ACCOUNT OF _______________ (EXECUTOR)
UNDER THE WILL OF _______________
NUMBER ______________________
NOTICE TO PARTIES IN INTEREST
Notice is hereby given that the (__________) of the
above-captioned Estate has filed (__________) Account
and Statement of Proposed Distribution with the Clerk
of the Orphans' Court of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania,
and the Audit thereon shall be before the Court on the
_____ day of ___________ 19__, at __.M., in Courtroom
No. 2, Schuylkill County Courthouse, Pottsville,
Pennsylvania.
If you have any objection to any transaction or matter
involving the Estate, you must file with the Clerk of
the Orphans' Court objections thereto in writing prior
to Audit, or appear in person or by legal counsel and
present your objections to the Court at Audit.
If you fail to present objections, the Court may assume
you have no objection to the Account and Statement of
Proposed Distribution. You are not required to appear
if you have no objections.
A copy of the Account and Statement of Proposed
Distribution is attached hereto; and if not attached,
it is available for your examination at the Register of
Wills office, Schuylkill County Courthouse.
(2) For the purposes of this Rule, a "Party in Interest" is defined as follows:
(i) when decedent dies intestate, as all intestate heirs;
(ii) when decedent dies testate, as all residuary legatees.
(3)(i) a statement that the Account and Statement of Proposed Distribution are available for examination at the Register of Wills office shall be attached to any notice to a Claimant.
(ii) a copy of the Account and Statement of Proposed Distribution shall be attached to any notice to a party in interest.
(4) Every notice to a claimant shall contain the date; time and place of the Audit of the account; whether the claim, interest, or obligation of the person notified is admitted or denied; if admitted, whether it will be paid in full or in part; and, if denied, that an objection to such denied claim must be filed with the Clerk prior to Audit or by appearance in person or by counsel at the Audit to present such objection.
(b) On or before the date for the call of the account for audit, the accountant, or his counsel, shall file with the Court a return of notice as prescribed in Rule 5.4 hereof.
(c) Failure by the accountant or his counsel to give all required notices and to file returns thereof in accordance with this rule shall result in the Court continuing the audit of the account until all of the provisions of all of the aforementioned rules have been satisfied.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(a) Accounts to appear on a particular confirmation list must be filed not later than 4 p.m. of the fifth Wednesday immediately preceding the Wednesday on which it is desired the account shall be submitted to the Court for adjudication and confirmation.
(b) All accounts on the advertised confirmation list will be transmitted to the Court for adjudication and confirmation on the day set forth on the confirmation list; but, in cases requiring the taking of considerable testimony or the hearing of argument on legal questions or in which objections have been filed, a special day for conference or hearing may be fixed.
[Amended November 4, 1999, 29 Pa.B. 5920, effective for all accounts filed for audit on or after January 15, 2000. Originally adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(2) Form of Advertisement. The form of advertisement of Accounts and Statements of Proposed Distribution that have been filed for Audit and adjudication by the Court shall be as follows:
Notice of Audit of Fiduciaries Accounts.
To all claimants, beneficiaries, heirs, next-of-kin, and
all other parties in interest:
NOTICE is hereby given that the following named
fiduciaries of the respective estates designated below
have filed their Accounts and Statements of Proposed
Distribution in the office of the Register of Wills in and
for the County of Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, and the same
will be presented to the Orphans' Court Division, Courtroom
No. 2, Schuylkill County Courthouse, Pottsville,
Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, the ______ day of __________,
19___, at ___.M., for audit and confirmation at which time
and place all persons interested shall attend, if they
desire, and present their claims or forever thereafter be
barred from coming in upon said respective estates so
accounted for; namely:
Estate Fiduciary Attorney
X X X
___________________________
Clerk of the Orphans' Court
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(2) Except by special leave of Court, printed forms of the Statement of Proposed Distribution provided by the Clerk shall be used.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(a) appearances;
(b) report of additional receipts and/or disbursements;
(c) objections;
(d) claims; and
(e) other matters.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(1) Orphans' Court Account Checklist executed by counsel of record;
(2) Copies of all agreements with respect to settlements and compromises;
(3) Accurate description of all real property to be awarded in kind described by metes and bounds in the manner appearing in the last deed of record, together with recital of title into the decedent.
(b) Accounts of Personal Representatives. Counsel for personal representatives shall also attach:
(1) the original proofs of advertisement of grant of letters;
(2) a copy of letters, inventory, and inheritance tax appraisement;
(3) a copy of the Will and codicils;
(4) the official receipt for any inheritance tax paid;
(5) the official receipt for any federal estate tax paid; and
(6) a Statement of Proposed Distribution.
(c) Accounts of Trustees. Counsel for Trustees shall also submit:
(1) a copy of the letters, and of the will and codicils, if any, creating the testamentary trust, or a copy of the trust instrument and any amendments thereto, creating the inter vivos trust;
(2) a waiver of an income accounting executed by all of the income beneficiaries, if the account does not contain a complete income accounting;
(3) the official receipt for any inheritance tax paid during the period of the accounting;
(4) the official receipt for any federal estate tax paid during the period of the accounting; and
(5) a Statement of Proposed Distribution.
(d) Accounts of Guardians of the Estates of Minors. Counsel for a Guardian of the estate of a minor shall also submit:
(1) a copy of the appointment of the guardian or of the Will or other instrument by which the guardian was appointed;
(2) where the former minor has attained the age of eighteen (18) years, his written stipulation setting forth that he attained the age of eighteen (18) years on a certain designated date; that he has examined the account and has found it correct; and that he has received the balance or balances shown in the account and requests that the guardian be discharged;
(3) where the former minor has attained the age of eighteen (18) years but has not executed the stipulation referred to in paragraph (d)(2) of this Rule, then in place thereof a Statement of Proposed Distribution shall be filed;
(4) where the minor is deceased, or has been adjudged an incompetent or incapacitated person under the P.E.F. Code, or is an absentee or presumed decedent, or the guardian has resigned or has been removed, a Statement of Proposed Distribution shall be filed.
(e) Accounts of Guardians of Estates of Incompetents/Incapacitated Persons. Counsel for a Guardian of the Estate of an Incompetent/Incapacitated Person shall also submit:
(1) a copy of the appointment of the guardian;
(2) a copy of the original inventory filed; and
(3) a Statement of Proposed Distribution.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(b) Each objection shall be specific as to description and amount, shall raise but one issue of law or fact, and shall set forth briefly the reason or reasons in support thereof.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(b) Objections may be made orally when an account is first called for audit, in which event they shall be reduced to writing and filed in conformance with these Rules within five (5) days thereafter.
(c) No objections shall be made or filed except as provided in (a) and (b) hereof unless leave of Court is first obtained.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(b) The Clerk shall immediately serve, or cause to be served, by first class United States mail, a true copy of the adjudication and order upon-
(1) Each attorney of record;
(2) Each claimant, whether claiming as a creditor or as an heir, or legatee, who appeared at the audit in personam and without counsel and whose claim has been denied in full or in part; and
(3) Such other parties as the Court may direct.
(e) Immediately upon effecting service of the Court's adjudication and order as provided in (b) hereof, the Clerk shall file of record proof of such service and shall provide a copy of the same to Accountant and his counsel.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(a) whether the real estate can be divided among less than all of the parties in interest without prejudice to or spoiling the whole and if so, how; and
(b) whether the Court should direct the personal representative to sell at a sale confined to the distributees or at a private or public sale not so confined.
A copy of the interlocutory decree, duly certified, shall be served by certified or registered mail, by the personal representative, upon all parties in interest, not less than ten (10) days before the return day fixed in the decree; proof of service of notice, in the form of return receipts, to he filed upon the return day.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]
(1) the name, date of death, and residence of the decedent;
(2) the name and address of the petitioner and his relationship to the decedent;
(3) if the petitioner is the surviving spouse, the date and place of marriage to the decedent;
(4) whether the decedent died testate or intestate;
(5) the names, relationship, and interest of all persons entitled to share in the decedent's estate under the Will or intestate laws, stating who are minors, incompetents/incapacitated persons, or decedents, with the names of their fiduciaries, if any, and whether any of them received or retained any property of the decedent by payment of wages, salary or any accrued pension under Section 3101 of the P.E.F. Code or otherwise;
(6) where a claim for family exemption is included, a statement that claimant formed a part of the decedents household at the date of his death and, if the claimant is the surviving spouse, that he has not forfeited his right to the family exemption;
(7) an itemized statement of the gross personal estate to be distributed and the fair value of each item other than cash, such value to be that given in the inventory filed, and if none was filed, then the fair value, if not readily ascertainable, shall be fixed by two appraisers whose affidavits of value shall be attached to the petition;
(8) the disbursements made prior to the filing of the petition; the date and name of the person to whom paid; and the nature and amount of each payment;
(9) the names of all unpaid claimants of whom the petitioner has notice, the nature and amount of each claim, and whether such claims are admitted;
(10) that a schedule of assets and deductions for inheritance tax purposes has been filed with the Register of Wills; the amount of any inheritance tax assessed, and the date of payment thereof;
(11) a statement that ten (10) days written notice of intention to present the petition has been given to every unpaid beneficiary, heir, or claimant who has not joined in the petition, or to the Attorney General, if the decedent's heirs are unknown; and
(12) a statement of distribution of the property, setting forth the persons entitled and their distributive shares and requesting the discharge of the personal representative if letters have been granted.
(b) Exhibits. The following exhibits shall be attached to the petition:
(1) a copy of the decedent's Will;
(2) the consents of unpaid beneficiaries, heirs, and claimants;
(3) a copy of the inventory, if one was filed;
(4) a copy of the notice given; and
(5) the inheritance tax voucher, or in lieu thereof a statement from the inheritance tax department that no tax is due.
[Adopted April 1, 1993, effective 30 days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. 26 Pa.B. 467 (2/3/96).]