• John B Whalen Jr Esq •
It is so rare to find an attorney who is willing to meet you at your place of convenience rather than always having to go to their office.
I am extremely impressed with how John is so personable and service oriented.
I would definitely refer him as the attorney to take care of your probate and will needs.
A living trust allows you to place assets under the care of a trustee who then distributes them to your beneficiaries in accordance with your wishes. A living trust, in contrast with a testamentary trust, comes into existence while you are still alive. Pennsylvania’s trust law is based on the Pennsylvania Uniform Trust Act.
Three parties are required to create a living trust: The settlor, or trustor, is the party who creates the trust, sets its terms and deposits assets into it. The trustee is the person that administers the trust in accordance with the terms you, as the settlor, have set. You may appoint yourself as the trustee. Beneficiaries are the persons or organizations you appoint to receive the trust assets. A trust may include other parties as well; for example, you may name either a successor trustee or a trust protector whose sole function is to hire and fire trustees.
A living trust is created when you draft and sign a Declaration of Trust. The Declaration of Trust identifies the parties to the trust, specifies whether it is revocable or irrevocable, and tells the trustee how to distribute trust assets. The Declaration of Trust may give the trustee specific instructions on how to distribute the trust’s assets or allow the trustee broad discretionary authority. For example, the trustee may be permitted to invest the trust assets and distribute only capital gains to the beneficiaries. If the trust is revocable, as most are, you may modify or terminate it at any time. Pennsylvania, unlike many other states, allows you to modify or terminate a living trust, even an irrevocable one, if you can secure the unanimous consent of the beneficiaries.
The assets of a Pa Living Trust are not subject to the Pennsylvania Probate process. The Pa Trustee may immediately distribute trust assets to beneficiaries to the extent expressed in the trust document grants him the authority to do so. Assets may be distributed without seeking approval from the estate executor or probate court.
Cornerstone content is the core of this website. It consists of the best, most important articles, posts, and pages on this website. Their focus is to provide the best and most complete information on a particular topic, rather than to sell my services.
The best gift you can give your loved ones is to have your Estate Planning complete. Unfortunately, to a great extent, misinformation about critical terms such as inheritance tax, estate tax, probate, avoiding probate, simple will, living will, and living trust, tends to lead to misunderstandings of estate planning. These misunderstandings, in turn, tend to lead to mistakes in estate planning. These mistakes, again, in turn, tend to lead to unintended results after one’s death.
There are four primary documents that tend to form the foundation of most good estate plans.
These documents are a Power of Attorney, an Advance Directive for Health Care (often referred to as a Living Will), a Will, and a Trust.
Although each document has a different purpose, each document designates someone who is responsible for carrying out the wishes set forth in the document.
Each document has a boss who is in charge of carrying out the terms of that particular document.
I refer to these people – those in charge – as “The Bosses.
Under Pennsylvania law, the proper terms for the bosses are an Agent (under a Power of Attorney), a Surrogate (under an Advance Directive for Health Care), an Executor (under a Last Will), and a Trustee (under a Trust).
Although a technical knowledge of these terms can be useful, it is not the point of this article.
The focus is to illustrate that an Agent, a Surrogate, an Executor, and a Trustee are just the bosses of that respective document.
Each boss has powers, and these powers can be summarized very simply.
An Agent (under a Pa Power of Attorney) can help manage all of your affairs; a Surrogate (under an Advance Directive for Health Care) can execute your end of life decisions; an Executor (under a Will) can administer your Estate; and a Trustee (under a Trust) can monitor and manage your Trust.
Again, and although a technical knowledge of the parameters of these various powers can be useful, it is not the point of this article.
The focus is to illustrate that an Agent, a Surrogate, an Executor, and a Trustee can generally possess broad powers to act for you under that respective document.
Each boss has powers, and these powers can be summarized very simply.
An Agent (under a Power of Attorney) can help manage all of your affairs; a Surrogate (under an Advance Directive for Health Care) can execute your end of life decisions; an Executor (under a Will) can administer your Estate; and a Trustee (under a Trust) can monitor and manage your Trust.
Again, and although a technical knowledge of the parameters of these various powers can be useful, it is not the point of this article.
The focus is to illustrate that an Agent, a Surrogate, an Executor, and a Trustee can generally possess broad powers to act for you under that respective document.
Although all four of the documents require bosses that possess certain traits or characteristics in order for that document to be as effective as possible, I have experienced that two traits should be inherent in all of the bosses of all four of the documents: ability and willingness.
Although the bosses of each of the documents should also possess additional traits for that particular document to be effective (all of which shall be addressed later), unless your boss is able and willing to act on your behalf, your desires and wishes may not be followed.
A Power of Attorney can grant your boss (Agent) the ability to control all of your affairs.
It is a very powerful document; it can permit your Agent the broadest of powers to do anything which you could have done (i.e., give all your money away), but yet, inherent in these broad powers, is the reality that you Agent may actually do anything which you could have done (i.e., give all your money away).
A Power of Attorney can be durable (effective after you are incapacitated), current (effective now), or springing (effective upon the happening of a future event (i.e., the decision by your treating physician that you can no longer act for yourself).
A common misconception is that a Power of Attorney eliminates your ability to act for yourself.
Quite to the contrary, and until you are deemed incapacitated, a Power of Attorney should properly be viewed as a shared authority – you still retain all of the powers and decision making ability that you possessed before you executed the Power of Attorney.
With respect to additional traits that your boss should possess (in addition to being able and willing), I have found that your boss (Agent) should also be levelheaded and familiar with your affairs.
An Advance Directive for Health Care (“Pa Living Will”) can grant your boss (Surrogate) the ability to execute your end of life decisions and decide whether life-sustaining measures should be used.
The common misconception of this document is when it will become operative.
There are two triggers that must occur before your Surrogate is even given the option of acting: the first is that you must be unable to communicate your own decisions, and the second is that you must have been diagnosed with a terminal condition or as being permanently unconscious.
A Will can grant your boss (Executor) the ability to administer your Estate.
With respect to additional traits that your boss should possess (in addition to being able and willing), I have found that your boss (Surrogate) should also be stoic and stro
The most common misconception that surrounds a Will is the process called probate and the seemingly universal theme that it should be avoided at all costs.
Again, and virtually to the contrary, the word probate is merely the Latin infinitive verb that means to prove, and, although some states do have onerous probate procedures (where the avoidance of probate may be a prudent strategy), Pennsylvania is not one of those states.
In fact, probating a Will in Pennsylvania is very simple.
Also very important is the fact that a Will only disposes of the assets (1) that you own in your individual name alone and (2) that possess no beneficiary designations (i.e., no tags).
Consequently, items owned jointly with another are controlled by property law (not Will law) and will pass to the joint owner(s) at your death, and items that have beneficiary designations will be controlled by contract law (not Will law) and pass to the designated beneficiaries at your death.
With respect to additional traits that your boss should possess (in addition to being able and willing), I have found that your boss (Executor) should also be honest and diplomatic.
A Trust can grant your boss (Trustee) the ability to monitor and manage your Trust.
The types of Trusts can be viewed simply as being either (1) revocable (which are created during your life and which become irrevocable upon your death), (2) irrevocable (which are created during your life and become irrevocable upon their creation), and (3) and testamentary (which are created under your Will and which become irrevocable upon your death.
Vital is the fact that they can be extremely useful for individuals with Special Needs (i.e., autism, addictions, minors, etc).
With respect to additional traits that your boss should possess (in addition to being able and willing), I have found that your boss (Trustee) should also be attentive and decisive.
Another area of misconception in the estate planning area is the taxes that are imposed on value of your assets on the date of your death.
Basically, two death taxes can be imposed on Pennsylvania residents: the Federal Estate Tax and the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax.
Unlike the income tax, which is very descriptive in its title as it is imposed upon your income, the phrases Estate Tax and Inheritance Tax are misnomers that may tend to belie the actual fact that these are taxes imposed by virtue of your death.
The Federal Estate Tax begins at a wealth threshold.
The federal estate tax exemption — also referred to as the estate tax exclusion — is $11.4 million per person as of 2019.
A married couple can effectively leave behind $22.8 million combined.
This exemption is cumulative for gifts made during life as well as your estate at death.
Because the exemption is so high, very few people have to file an estate tax return or pay estate taxes.
However, this exemption is scheduled to get cut to $5 million in 2026.
Although the basic exclusion amount will be reduced in 2026, the IRS’s regulations provide a special rule that effectively allows an estate to compute its estate tax credit using the greater of the exclusion amounts applicable to gifts made during life, or the exclusion amount applicable on the date of death.
If you possess less than the wealth threshold at your death, the federal estate tax will not be applicable.
In addition to the estate tax — which is a tax on property transferred at death — a personal representative of the decedent might have to pay a gift tax on money or property given during the decedent’s life if it hasn’t already been paid.
However, no tax is owed if the gift does not exceed the exclusion amount. You can give $15,000 per year to any person without using any of your exclusion amount.
Giving more than that to any person reduces your basic exclusion amount — and the amount you can pass estate-tax-free at your death. Say, for example, you give $115,000 to your child to help them buy a house. Because you gave $100,000 more than the $15,000 annual exclusion, you use up $100,000 of the basic exclusion amount and can only leave $11.3 million estate-tax-free at your death.
Although gifts can be excluded from taxes, they are not deducted from your overall taxable income — there is no gift tax exemption.
If it is applicable, the tax is imposed on a percentage scale according to the amount of wealth (i.e., potentially 47% of the value of your assets above the current $1,500,000. 00 wealth threshold).
The Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax has no wealth threshold and starts immediately.
It is imposed on a percentage based on the relationship of the beneficiary.
Spouses and Charities are taxed at a 00.00% tax rate, lineal descendants are taxed at a 4.50%, brothers and sisters (but not brothers-in-law nor sisters-in-law) are taxed at a 12.00% tax rate, and everyone else is taxed at a 15.00% tax rate.
In conclusion, there are four basic pointers for all who are faced with estate planning.
First – title you assets with the utmost care (i.e., joint ownership, beneficiary designations, etc.).
Second – with respect to transferring your assets (i.e., re-titling, gifting, etc) during your lifetime, get advice before you do so (before the bombs go off).
Third – always have your estate planning documents up-to-date because laws, taxes, and people change.
Fourth – and most importantly – pick your bosses very carefully.
Cornerstone content is the core of this website. It consists of the best, most important articles, posts, and pages on this website. Their focus is to provide the best and most complete information on a particular topic, rather than to sell my services.
There are many factors that can affect the distribution of estate assets. In some cases, there may be a Pa Will that identifies you as a beneficiary; in other cases, there may not be a will at all. In still other cases, there may be a dispute involving the administration of the estate. For example, a beneficiary may disagree with how the executor or personal representative is distributing assets.
I have represented thousands of beneficiaries during my decades as an Estate Attorney. I can provide the necessary advice to protect your rights in nearly any estate planning matter.
Estate administration can be a complex and lengthy process with many bumps in the road. If you suspect your rights as a beneficiary are being challenged, you should seek the advice of an experienced estate planning attorney immediately. I can explain your rights and all your available options. Contact our Wayne, PA office today to schedule a free consultation with me.
Cornerstone content is the core of this website. It consists of the best, most important articles, posts, and pages on this website. Their focus is to provide the best and most complete information on a particular topic, rather than to sell my services.
Pa Estate Administration is the process of settling a decedent’s affairs.
When a loved one passes away, it can be an emotional time.
In addition to grieving their passing, those that survive them must tie up all the legal and financial loose ends related to their life and estate. This includes addressing their Pa Last Will and following its instructions.
The first step of the Pa Estate Administration requires the named executor to apply for Pa Probate. Pa Probate grants the Pa Executor the legal right to be able to administer the Pa Estate.
The Pa Executor must then have the Pa Estate valued in order to determine if any Pa Estate Tax and/or Pa Inheritance Tax is owed upon its proceeds.
If any taxes are due, the amount owed must then be paid by the Pa Executor of the Pa Estate before any other monies are distributed to the departed person’s beneficiaries. The Pa Beneficiaries may eventually have to file Pa Inheritance tax returns as well.
This includes addressing their will and following its instructions. The first step of the Pa Estate Administration requires the named executor to apply for Pa Probate.
Pa Probate grants the Executor the legal right to be able to administer the Pa Estate.
The Executor must then have the estate valued in order to determine if any tax is owed upon its proceeds.
If any taxes are due, the amount owed must then be paid by the executor of the estate before any other monies are distributed to the departed person’s beneficiaries.
The beneficiaries may eventually have to file Pa Inheritance tax returns as well.
In United States law and terminology, “probate” refers to proving that a will is valid. In many U.S. states, a person would petition the court for probate, and then add the will that is to be considered to their petition. Once probate is approved by the court, the petitioner officially becomes the executor and then has full legal rights to be able to deal with the deceased individual’s estate.
An “inheritance” refers to what a benefactor receives from the estate of a relative who has passed on and included them in their will. Inheritance tax is the tax that is paid to the government on the money that has been inherited. In the United States, not everyone must pay inheritance tax; an estate must be worth a certain amount before a tax payment is required. In addition to federal inheritance taxes, state taxes are required in some states. Inheritance tax returns must be filed as well.
Pa Estate Administration is the process of settling a decedent’s affairs. When a loved one passes away, it can be an emotional time. In addition to grieving their passing, those that survive them must tie up all the legal and financial loose ends related to their life and estate. This includes addressing their will and following its instructions. The first step of the Pa Estate Administration requires the named executor to apply for Pa Probate. Pa Probate grants the Executor the legal right to be able to administer the Pa Estate. The Executor must then have the estate valued in order to determine if any tax is owed upon its proceeds. If any taxes are due, the amount owed must then be paid by the executor of the estate before any other monies are distributed to the departed person’s beneficiaries. The beneficiaries may eventually have to file Pa Inheritance tax returns as well.
Cornerstone content is the core of this website. It consists of the best, most important articles, posts, and pages on this website. Their focus is to provide the best and most complete information on a particular topic, rather than to sell my services.
Pa Estate law comprises many areas of law. However, all of these areas of law focus on taking care of one’s person and property. Estate law is all of the laws that impact how a person makes decisions and issues directives about their personal affairs. A Pa Estate is anything that makes up a person’s net worth. Very simply, an estate is what a person has in their own name alone.
John provides a full range of services for Pa Last Wills: drafting, review, amendment, revocation, execution and probate. He provides reliable guidance for Pa Testators and Pa Executors.
His experience in the probate court, resolving issues related to the validity of wills, enables him to provide practical advice for testators from all walks of life. Similarly, his work in the formation of wills gives us keen insight into how executors should interpret various aspects of a will that may initially seem unclear.
Whether you are a testator formulating an estate plan or an executor implementing a decedent’s wishes, John B. Whalen, Jr. Esq. can simplify many complex aspects of the tasks before you.
He offers pertinent and personal legal advice to obtain the results you need in a timely manner with the least stress possible. Once executed, your will remains your final statement of your intentions until you amend or revoke it.
He recommends reviewing your will every three to five years and updating it to reflect your current wishes.
There are many factors that can affect the distribution of estate assets. In some cases, there may be a will that identifies you as a beneficiary; in other cases, there may not be a will at all. In still other cases, there may be a dispute involving the administration of the estate.
For example, a beneficiary may disagree with how the executor or personal representative is distributing assets. Attorney John Whalen has represented thousands of beneficiaries during his decades as an estate planning attorney. He can provide the necessary advice to protect your rights in nearly any estate planning matter.
Pa Estate Administration is the process of settling a decedent’s affairs. When a loved one passes away, it can be an emotional time. In addition to grieving their passing, those that survive them must tie up all the legal and financial loose ends related to their life and estate. This includes addressing their Pa Last Will and following its instructions.
Pa Estate law comprises many areas of law. However, all of these areas of law focus on taking care of one’s person and property. Estate law is all of the laws that impact how a person makes decisions and issues directives about their personal affairs. A Pa Estate is anything that makes up a person’s net worth. Very simply, an estate is what a person has in their own name alone.
Most estates, especially when there is a proper will in place, are easily settled. Yet there are times when other factors complicate the issue, creating a situation that requires more careful consideration. For example, a family business, an estate that is in bankruptcy or an estate that holds significant amounts of real estate may become complicated quite quickly. This is where estate litigation comes into play.
Dealing with legal, accounting and tax-related matters is often the last thing you want to do during this emotional time, but you don’t have to go it alone. Whether you need advice about probate, estate administration or inheritance tax returns, estate administration attorney John B. Whalen, Jr., can help. He is committed to making the entire process as efficient and stress-free as possible.
An attorney who specializes in Pa Estate Planning can help you create a complete plan (including Pa Last Wills, Pa Powers of Attorney, and Pa Living Wills, etc.) to protect your spouse and children if you become unable to manage your financial affairs. Pa Estate Planning allows you to make decisions now so your wishes can be carried out if you die or become incapacitated.
When you execute a legal document called a Pa Power of Attorney, you are authorizing another individual (your Pa Agent) to make certain decisions on your behalf. The person who signs the document is called the principal and the person who is authorized to make decisions is known as the agent or attorney-in-fact.
Living wills are also referred to as an advance directive or a health care directive. It is a legal document that communicates your desire in the treatment of serious medical problems in the event that you are unable to speak for yourself. They do not go into effect unless you are incapacitated and unable to express yourself. Having a living will can relieve your close relatives from the burden of having to make the decision about whether to remove you from life support.
Trusts are legal documents that allow you to control how your assets will be allocated or managed. You are considered the grantor and the person that manages and distributes assets in the trust is known as the trustee. Individuals who receive money or other assets are the beneficiaries.
Property placed in a trust, unlike wills, is not subject to probate. You can also create a revocable trust which can be canceled or revoked at any time while you are alive. Trusts can be set up for a child’s education or to reduce estate taxes.
A Will is an important document to execute in order to avoid disputes about how your assets will be divided when you die. The executor who administers the distribution of assets from your estate will allocate your possessions as you specified. You should periodically review your Will to make sure it is still relevant and accurate. Life changing events, such as the birth of a child or a marriage, may require amendments to the original document.
If you die without a will, you are said to die intestate. In such a case, the state will handle your estate and your assets may not get to the people, institutions or charitable causes that you wanted.
When an individual acts in a fiduciary capacity such as a Pa Executor of a Pa Last Will or a Pa Trustee of the financial assets of another person or entity, they have the responsibility of keeping accurate financial records. Those records should show how money was spent, invested or distributed while under the fiduciary’s care and control. Proper accounting can bring to light the mismanagement or bad investment of funds should an issue arise with an interested party.
Certain procedures must be followed when reports are prepared to explain how the assets in an estate or trust were managed. Approved fiduciary accountings require the separation of principal and interest. You can not commingle funds that are considered principal with those that are considered income.
The main reason for keeping principal and income in separate accounts is that the beneficiaries of income in a trust or estate may be different than the beneficiaries of the principal in the same estate or trust.
A trust or an estate is considered a separate legal entity from an individual who may be a beneficiary of that trust or estate. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the fiduciary administering the estate or trust to file a federal tax return under certain conditions.
The IRS requires a trust to file a tax return if it has any taxable income or has gross income of at least $600, regardless of whether it is taxable or not. Estates must file Form 1041 if they have gross income of $600 or more. A fiduciary must also file a return if any of the beneficiaries of the estate or trust is a non-resident alien.
Form 1041 is similar to the 1040 return used by individuals. The form is designed so estates and trusts can report income, deductions, gains, losses and any other pertinent financial information. Before funds or assets can be distributed, any tax liabilities of the estate or trust must be satisfied.
Once all of the assets of an estate or trust have been distributed or otherwise settled, it is customary that the fiduciary is released from further responsibility. That may be done by signing a release form through the court or an agreement with the beneficiaries of the estate or trust.
Dealing with estate taxation can be complex. Estate taxation attorney John B. Whalen, Jr., provides guidance to his clients when dealing with these complicated issues.
Guardianship is a legal situation granted by the court to appoint an individual to assist and protect the legal rights of someone who is physically or mentally unable to care for his or her own needs.
The Pa Probate process, itself, is a very simple process. However, it is merely the beginning of the Pa Estate Administration (also known as the Pa Estate Settlement) process, which involves settling a decedent’s affairs, and can (and does) involve many, many other steps, depending on many, many other things.
In United States law and terminology, “probate” refers to proving that a will is valid. In many U.S. states, a person would petition the court for probate, and then add the will that is to be considered to their petition. Once probate is approved by the court, the petitioner officially becomes the executor and then has full legal rights to be able to deal with the deceased individual’s estate.
An “inheritance” refers to what a benefactor receives from the estate of a relative who has passed on and included them in their will. Inheritance tax is the tax that is paid to the government on the money that has been inherited. In the United States, not everyone must pay inheritance tax; an estate must be worth a certain amount before a tax payment is required. In addition to federal inheritance taxes, state taxes are required in some states. Inheritance tax returns must be filed as well.
When you choose John Whalen, you get unprecedented access to his knowledgeable counsel 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He prides himself on providing fast responses and prompt service. Appointments are made on your terms, and can be arranged in the comfort of your own home. Attorney John Whalen knows that his clients want clear communication and affordable access to justice. That is why he always operates on a flat-fee basis, so clients know exactly what to expect and there are never any surprises.
Estate administration can be a complex and lengthy process with many bumps in the road. If you suspect your rights as a beneficiary are being challenged, you should seek the advice of an experienced estate planning attorney immediately. Attorney John Whalen can explain your rights and all your available options. Contact our Wayne, PA office today to schedule a free consultation with experienced estate planning attorney John Whalen.
The Pa Guardianship process can be filled with emotions. Realizing that a loved one is no longer capable of caring for his or her self can be difficult to accept. That’s why you need an attorney who offers legal services with compassion. For the past twenty-five (25) years, Attorney Whalen has built a reputation for providing compassionate legal care for his clients, putting their needs and interests first while navigating emotionally trying circumstances.
Setting up a legal guardianship can sometimes get complex, especially if other family members are not in agreement as to who the guardian should be. That is why the assistance of a Pennsylvania guardianship attorney is so valuable. Attorney John Whalen has been serving the people of Pennsylvania for over 20 years, and brings compassion and knowledge to the guardianship process.
In a guardianship case, the interests of many parties need to be considered. First and foremost are the interests of the individual who needs guardianship. The guardian needs to be someone who will protect the interests and safety of the individual who needs help. When working on guardianship cases, Attorney Whalen ensures that everyone’s best interests, including the individual who needs help the most, are protected and considered.
Yet that’s just one aspect of a guardianship case. Sometimes the children or loved ones of the individual are not in agreement about who should be the guardian. In other cases, the individual who needs support may not be willing to accept it, and the case may need to go to court to prove that guardianship is required. Handling these cases requires skill and understanding, and that is exactly what Attorney Whalen offers.
The guardianship process can be filled with emotions. Realizing that a loved one is no longer capable of caring for his or her self can be difficult to accept. That’s why you need an attorney who offers legal services with compassion. For the past two decades, Attorney John Whalen has built a reputation for providing compassionate legal care for his clients, putting their needs and interests first while navigating emotionally trying circumstances.
If you or someone you love needs the help of a legal guardian, Attorney John Whalen is ready to help. Schedule a free initial consultation to discuss your concerns and questions, and get started on the guardianship process.
The Pa Probate process, itself, is a very simple process. However, it is merely the beginning of the Pa Estate Administration (also known as the Pa Estate Settlement) process, which involves settling a decedent’s affairs, and can (and does) involve many, many other steps, depending on many, many other things.
In United States law and terminology, “probate” refers to proving that a will is valid.
In many U.S. states, a person would petition the court for probate, and then add the will that is to be considered to their petition.
Once probate is approved by the court, the petitioner officially becomes the Executor and then has full legal rights to be able to deal with the deceased individual’s estate.
Although some states do have onerous Probate procedures (where “avoiding probate” may be a prudent strategy), Pennsylvania is not one of those states, In fact, Pennsylvania is very “Probate-Friendly.”
The most common misconception that surrounds a Pa Last Will is the process called “Probate” and the seemingly universal theme that it should be avoided at all costs. Again, and virtually to the contrary, the word “Probate” is merely based on the Latin verb that means “to prove.” Nothing more!
Cornerstone content is the core of this website. It consists of the best, most important articles on this website. Their focus is to provide the best and most complete information on a particular topic, rather than to sell products.
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