Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

You have raised separate issues. The insurance policy is a non-probate asset ordinarily. What this means is that the benefits go directly to the beneficary named on the policy, not to your father's estate. It was up to your father to name some kind of contingent beneficiary. You do not indicate the timespan between your father's death and the girlfriend's death; you will have to read the policy as I don't know if there is any type of length of time for survivorship in order for a beneficiary to receive the proceeds.

If there is, then the girlfriend would have to survive the required length of time in order to receive the benefits. If she did not meet the requirements. the proceeds would be paid to your father's estate as no contingent beneficiary was named. If there is no survivorship requirement or the girlfriend met the requirements, then the benefits on the policy would be paid to the estate of the girlfriend. The insurance proceeds would be distributed as per her will or, if none, then via the state intestacy laws. If she did not want her assets to pass to distant relatives then she needed to do some estate planning by making a will or trust.

I assume that you have obtained the renunciation form for the estate of the girlfriend and, if you are the administrator, then the girlfriend did not have a will at all.

I do not know why you allowed the neighbors to interfere. First, when your father died, you should have arranged to get your father's possessions. Second, when the girlfriend died, the neighbors had NO authority to do anything and if they were somehow obstructing you, you should have obtained a lawyer, if necessary, and obtained access to the home to retrieve your father's possessions. You should have been appointed as the personal representative of your father's estate to accomplish this purpose.

What you propose is not permissible as you have outlined. If the cousin renounces her right to receive assets, then the assets will not pass to you but to the next of kin, if any. At some point, state law provides a cutoff point beyond which heirs cannot inherit and the estate of the deceased person goes to the state.

However, the cousin can receive her share, which will be whatever is left AFTER the estate is administered and bills are paid. The cousin then can make a gift to you in whatever sum he/she chooses. The cousin can gift up to $13,000 per year free of gift tax.

You ask if you can purchase a burial plot. I do not understand why as you state that the girlfriend was cremated. Do you mean a place to keep her ashes? Funeral/burial expenses are the responsbility of the estate. If there is not enough money, these are among the items that are paid first. You can only use the insurance funds for the girlfriend's funeral expenses but not your father's and brother's funerals.

Regardless of what the girlfriend said she would do, the fact remains that she did not do this and unless you have some kind of written agreement with the girlfriend or unless she made a valid will leaving the home to you and your siblings, then the home will be distributed as per her will (if any) or as per state intestacy law.

You can do what you want with any money that you have in the name of the girlfriend. However, unless the girlfriend made a will leaving money to charities or to be dispersed to charity at her personal representative's discretion, then you cannot use funds of the girlfriend's estate for this purpose. It doesn't matter how much the girlfriend hated her cousin. If she felt that strongly, she would have bothered to make a will or trust.

You cannot do anything UNTIL you are officially appointed by the court as the personal representative (called an administrator if there is no will or executor if there is a will).

Depending on how much money will be in the estate, it may be wise for you to retain the assistance of counsel to help you with the process. However, you should speak to the probate court first to see if that will be necessary.

If you do not administer the girlfriend's estate it will be up to her heirs to do so. I don't see that it is any of your concern other than to make sure that you get something out of it. If you want to access the home, the person who is the personal representative of your father's estate would have the authority to do that but would have to get permission from the personal representative of the girlfriend's estate. From that standpoint, it may be simpler if you were to handle the girlfriend's estate as you can then access her home, take an inventory of what she owned and remove any items belonging to your father.

The commission allowed is what it is - its not a flat 5% but it is graduated depending on the size and complexity of the estate. If it will not be enough to compensate you for all the aggravation, then don't do it. People serve as personal representatives, not because of the commission, but because it is necessary to wind up the affairs of the deceased person in an orderly manner. Usually, this task is performed by loved ones who have a vested interest in seeing that the assets are transferred from the dead person to the dead person's heirs properly. However, if you don't want to do it, there may be someone (an attorney in town) that the court can recommend.