Probating wills is not must-see TV
Looking for a dramatic reading of a will to potential heirs waiting breathlessly in anticipation of their newly inherited assets?
“You'll have to turn on the television,” said Judy Moser, Butler County register of wills.
The process of probating a will in this state is a generally a paperwork affair.
A will, according to Moser, is an individual's written instructions on how his or her property is to be distributed after the individual's death. Wills must dispose of assets and be signed at the end.
The word probate — originally defined as “to prove” — is used generically to describe estate proceedings and requires a death certificate.
Moser, elected to her job, is the only row officer under Pennsylvania state law to carry quasi-judicial powers. She has judicial discretion in matters of deciding wether a document is suitable for probate and who can qualify as an executor or administrator.
She also can compel production of wills and compel administration of an estate. That means she has the authority to demand an outstanding will to be turned over to her office and, once it's submitted, to distribute the estate.
She conducts hearings and writes legal opinions.
Once the will is probated and moving through the court system, disputes — for example, who gets what — are decided by Butler County Judge S. Michael Yeager.
Last year, the Butler County Register of Wills Office handled 1,050 cases. Of them, fewer than half involved wills.
Examples of the other cases are people who died and had assets, but no will. Or cases where no estate was opened and creditors of the decedent petitioned to be paid.
Of those cases, Yeager says, “significantly less than 100 a year” are challenged.
In most cases he has seen, Yeager said the participants allege the deceased person was unduly influenced by an heir at the time he or she was writing the will.
However, since Yeager took over this role in 2006, only about three estate cases made it to a trial. The rest settled.
“There definitely have been times when people have fought for assets that I did not think would be something that would be fought over,” Yeager said, noting that it's generally principle rather than value that causes disputes. “But there's a law of diminishing returns.”
Although most estates in this county take nine to 12 months from start to finish, Moser said she's aware of one case in the county that took 20 years to close.
Heirs in that case were in disagreement over mineral rights.Although the probating of a will isn't as dramatic as it's portrayed on television, Moser said there are some quirky highlights.She recalls one set of heirs that fought for possession of a musical instrument. And another decedent who left his estate to his pets.And over the years, she said she has seen wills arrive in many forms, including on paper bags and cocktail napkins.She's aware of one case in Allegheny County where the will was carved onto a door.“They had to probate the door,” she said.Some wills are poignant, too.“Like we had one here from a civil war soldier. He did not want the money due to him from his participation in the war, so he left it in a trust for a teacher to travel the world,” Moser said.Moser said there's a common misconception that the larger estates take more work. But that's not necessarily the case, as generally large estates have the people and paperwork in place to move it through the process quickly.Instead, it's often small emotional cases that take time to settle.“It has more to do with the relationship of the heirs than the assets involved,” Moser said.Moser, who first came to the office in 1983, said not all the heirs she's encountered have been happy to be on the receiving end.“One man left his wife a bullet to shoot herself and $1 to buy rope in case the bullet didn't work,” she said.Frequently Asked Questions:QUESTION: Does a will have to be notarized?ANSWER: No. Pennsylvania does not require it.QUESTION: If I don't have a will, will the state take my estate?ANSWER: No. Even if you have no heirs. A will allows you to dictate who inherits your assets. Without a will, the law dictates who inherits your assets. Generally, in this order: 1. Surviving Spouse; 2. Children; 3. Parents; 4. Siblings; 5. Aunts & Uncles; 6. First CousinsQUESTION: If I want to change my will, should I write on it.ANSWER. No. Get a codicil, which is an addition to a will; it may explain, modify, add to, subtract from, qualify, alter, restrain or revoke provisions in an existing will.
