Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

I am the executor of the will of a relative will who was a PA resident. The estate had no probatable assets. All insurance/pension and other proceeds were paid directly to me as the beneficiary on those accounts. I have paid all of the funeral and other expenses. When I distribute the balance of the insurance and other proceeds to the beneficiaries listed in the will, will these payments be construed as 'gifts' from me. Note: This is a small estate.


Asked on 8/18/14, 8:03 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Glenn Brown Real World Law, P.C.

If you are sole recipient under the insurance policies and there is no probate estate and you you are not leaving out any relevant facts then it is likely these distributions would be gifts from you, yes.

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Answered on 8/18/14, 10:10 am

I agree with Attorney Brown. First, why are you making gifts if there is no probate? If you were the named designated beneficiary on the life insurance/pension, then you get to do what you want with the money. Buy cocaine, gamble it away, take a cruise. Whatever. There is no requirement that you share any of it. If the decedent intended the money to be shared, he either would have made the insurance/pension payable to the beneficiaries in equal shares or he would have set up a trust, made his trust the beneficiary and appointed a trustee to oversee the distribution of the funds.

So I don't get why you feel all altruistic and want to share the wealth here. If you do, then you need a good CPA because there are going to be gift tax consequences for you. You can gift up to $13,000 (maybe a little more - I am not a tax attorney) per year to any one person. So if you have $104,000, you can gift all of it to 8 different people.

I suggest that before you do something which is going to have consequences for you, that you go talk to either a probate lawyer who has a tax background (some do) or a CPA who is familiar with estate and gift taxes.

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Answered on 8/18/14, 8:05 pm


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