Estate of Whitley

50 A.3d 203, 2012 Pa. Super. 158, 2012 WL 3104682, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1601
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 1, 2012
DocketNo. 2798 EDA 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by238 cases

This text of 50 A.3d 203 (Estate of Whitley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Whitley, 50 A.3d 203, 2012 Pa. Super. 158, 2012 WL 3104682, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1601 (Pa. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION BY

GANTMAN, J.:

Appellants, Barbara Hulme, D. Mason Whitley III, and Eugene J. Whitley, appeal from the order entered in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, Orphans’ Court, which denied Appellants’ exceptions to the adjudication confirming the first and final accounting of the estate of D. Mason Whitley, Jr. (“Decedent”) and made final the court’s previous award of professional fees to Appellee, John T. Whitley, the executor of Decedent’s estate (“Executor”). Appellants ask us to determine whether the Orphans’ Court erred when it denied their challenge to the validity of Decedent’s will, that they initially raised via objections to the first and final accounting, because the court found the exclusive method to challenge the validity of a will is through an appeal from probate. Appellants also ask us to determine whether the court erroneously awarded Executor professional fees (paid by the estate) to defend the will contest. We hold the Orphans’ Court properly denied Appellants’ exceptions to the adjudication confirming the first and final accounting, in the nature of a will contest, for lack of jurisdiction because Appellants did not initiate their will contest via an appeal from probate. We further hold Appellants waived their challenge to the court’s award of additional professional fees to be paid from the estate on behalf of Executor, related to his defense against the improper will contest. Accordingly, we affirm.

The relevant facts and procedural history of this case are as follows. Decedent was the father of Appellants and Executor. Decedent died on September 16, 2008, leaving a will dated December 19, 2007. The will named Executor and also provided for specific and residuary gifts to all four children. Executor submitted the will for probate to the Register of Wills of Bucks County on September 24, 2008, and received duly issued Letters Testamentary dated September 26, 2008. As the administrator of the estate, Executor performed his duties to settle the estate. Because all of the siblings refused to sign a family estate settlement agreement, Executor prepared a first and final accounting and a petition for court adjudication. The Orphans’ Court opinion continues:

On June 3, 2009, [Executor] filed a First and Final Accounting of the Estate of [Decedent], with the [c]ourt. Said accounting was presented to the [c]ourt for audit on July [6], 2009. Appellants appeared at the audit, without counsel, and indicated that they wished to object to the accounting. The [c]ourt granted Appellants a period of 10 days to consult with counsel and file any objections to the accounting. Thereafter, Appellants retained counsel and filed Objections to the accounting on July 16, 2009. The Objections sought to set aside Decedent’s will alleging that it was the product of undue influence on the part of Executor. On November 6, 2009, Exec[206]*206utor filed a Motion to Strike Appellants’ Objections asserting that they were an improper method to challenge the validity of the will. On April 15, 2010, by way of Order, we granted Executor’s Motion and dismissed Appellants’ Objections. On April [23], 2010, Appellants filed a pleading titled “Exceptions to Adjudication.” No ruling was issued on the Exceptions, however, as they were premature in that [the court] had not yet issued an Adjudication in this matter. On August 2, 2010, Executor filed a Petition for Award of Professional Fees Related to Objections to Accounting. A hearing was held before the [court] on March 21, 2011. On March 23, 2011, by way of Decree, we granted Executor’s Petition and awarded the professional fees requested.
On August 3, 2010, Executor filed a Petition for Adjudication. On April 15, 2011, we issued an Adjudication confirming the accounting and directing that Executor distribute the Estate as requested. On May 9, 2011, Appellants filed Exceptions to Adjudication. On May 16, 2011, Executor filed a Motion to Strike Appellants’ Exceptions on the basis that they were untimely. Following the submission of briefs and after oral argument held on the record, we issued an Order denying Executor’s Motion to Strike Exceptions on August 1, 2011. In doing so, we chose to address said Exceptions in the interest of justice, despite their untimely filing, due to the fact that Executor and his counsel had prior notice of Appellants’ intention to file Exceptions in this matter. We denied Appellants’ Exceptions on September 20, 2011, and found that objections to an accounting were not the proper method to challenge the validity of a will. Thereafter, Appellants filed a Notice of Appeal to the Superior Court on October 19, 2011.

(Orphans’ Court Opinion, filed December 9, 2011, at 1-2). On October 20, 2011, the court ordered Appellants to file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b), which Appellants timely filed on November 9, 2011.

Appellants raise two issues for our review:

WHETHER [APPELLANTS’] CHALLENGE TO A WILL BASED UPON UNDUE INFLUENCE, RAISED IN AN OBJECTION TO A FIRST AND FINAL ACCOUNT, IS PROPERLY STRICKEN BECAUSE AN APPEAL FROM PROBATE PURSUANT TO 20 Pa.C.S.A. § 908(A) IS THE EXCLUSIVE METHOD FOR CONTESTING THE VALIDITY OF A WILL, WHATEVER THE BASIS FOR CONTESTING THAT WILL[?]
WHETHER AN AWARD OF ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL FEES IS PROPERLY GRANTED WHEN THE SOLE BASIS FOR THE REQUEST OF ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL FEES IS THE FILING OF OBJECTIONS TO AN EXECUTOR’S FIRST AND FINAL ACCOUNT^]

(Appellants’ Brief at 3).

Our standard and scope of review are as follows:

Our standard of review of the findings of an [Orphans’ [C]ourt is deferential.

When reviewing a decree entered by the Orphans’ Court, this Court must determine whether the record is free from legal error and the court’s factual findings are supported by the evidence. Because the Orphans’ Court sits as the fact-finder, it determines the credibility of the witnesses and, on review, we will not reverse its credibility determinations absent an abuse of that discretion.
[207]*207However, we are not constrained to give the same deference to any resulting legal conclusions.

In re Estate of Harrison, 745 A.2d 676, 678-79 (Pa.Super.2000), appeal denied, 563 Pa. 646, 758 A.2d 1200 (2000) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). “[T]he Orphans’ [C]ourt decision will not be reversed unless there has been an abuse of discretion or a fundamental error in applying the correct principles of law.” In re Estate of Luongo, 823 A.2d 942, 951 (Pa.Super.2003), appeal denied, 577 Pa. 722, 847 A.2d 1287(2003).

In their first issue, Appellants concede that they challenged the validity of the will by way of objections to the Executor’s first and final accounting, which was technically not a direct appeal from probate as contemplated in Section 908(a) of the Probate, Estates, and Fiduciaries (“PEF”) Code. Appellants, however, argue that a Section 908(a) direct appeal is not the only way to challenge the validity of a will based upon “extrinsic considerations” such as a claim of undue influence. Appellants take the position that their objections to the first and final accounting were sufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the Orphans’ Court to decide their will contest.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
50 A.3d 203, 2012 Pa. Super. 158, 2012 WL 3104682, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-whitley-pa-2012.