Estate planning is an intricate process, implicating specific problems such as prohibited transfers, testamentary capacity, conflicts of interest, and undue influence. Each decision could impact how the big picture plays out.
The last thing anyone should want is to see a family fight over what has accumulated over a lifetime. If the planning is bad or stale, the chance of a dispute increases. Nothing causes strife and wastes money like a family squabble. Trusts can sometimes help to avoid conflict, whether created within a will or separately.
Contact our Bucks County trust litigation lawyer to find out how to say what you want and why it matters. We are here to provide assistance for all of your trust and estate ligation needs.
Pennsylvania Estate Litigation Lawyer
With more than 30 years of experience, Bucks County lawyer Elliot Mark Olen understands the complexities involved in choosing how to create, administer, and oversee a trust or estate. Other aspects of estate planning outside the trust or will are important to consider as well. These things may include power of attorney, gifts before death, and property passing outside the estate. It is not just who is specified to receive which assets or property. Equally important is who handles things, at what costs, taking how long, and with guidelines you (not the court) establish.
We represent fiduciaries and beneficiaries in all kinds of these disputes, which in Pennsylvania are overseen by the Orphans Court. You would be surprised to see that many such disputes are not about obvious things like "contesting" a will. A sample of issues that might arise includes:
- Beneficiary disputes, including will and trust contests and the scope of discretionary power
- Interpretation of ambiguous, inconsistent or incomplete provisions
- Executor mismanagement of assets or expenses
- Failure to act promptly, or without due regard for the rights of others
- Unexpected remarriage or divorce, protection of children from parents of multiple marriages of unmarried
- Reformation of defective trusts and other related invalid legal instruments
- Disputes arising out of third-party transactions with beneficiaries
- Enforcing rights like overlooked loans or advances, and "inside" claims
- Rights of non-relatives you care for regarding burial, shared residences, tax burdens, and common decency.
When a resolution cannot be reached through negotiation, litigation becomes necessary. Elliot Mark Olen possesses specialized knowledge and skill representing beneficiaries and fiduciaries in Orphan's Court litigation, the informal name for trust and estate litigation court. He also has an implicit understanding of the new tax laws and how they apply to your estate, a critical factor in successful resolution of these disputes.
Contact Our Fairless Hills Beneficiary Disputes Law Firm
To schedule an appointment, contact our Pennsylvania estate litigation attorney in the Oxford Valley area of Bucks County today.
The Law Office of Elliot Mark Olen
Oxford Crossing, Suite 302 ● 333 Oxford Valley Road
Fairless Hills, PA 19030
Phone: (215) 943-5343 ● Fax: (215) 943-5118
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Our law firm is located in the Oxford Valley area of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where our Pennsylvania business law attorney serves the legal needs of businesses and individuals in the northern Philadelphia suburbs, including towns such as Yardley, Washington Crossing, Levittown, Fairless Hills, Newtown, Bensalem, Morrisville, Langhorne, Southampton, Huntingdon Valley and eastern Montgomery County. Our lawyers also represent clients from New Jersey and across the country who need legal services in the state of Pennsylvania.
