Estate Planning
Estate Administration
Estate administration involves the “probate” or placing of the original valid Will of record. The opening of an estate involves the executor or administrator taking an oath of fiduciary responsibility for gathering, protecting and distributing estate assets. Many people have elected to place assets into “living trusts.” We counsel and guide individuals through the morass of paperwork, identify probatable, nonprobatable, taxable and nontaxable assets that pass in and outside of these trusts. Generally, the executor or administrator selects the attorney to represent the estate, who may or may not have been the drafter of the Last Will and Testament. Our attorneys have represented estates in many western PA counties.