Oct. 25, 2018
HARRISBURG – Rep. Frank Ryan (R-Lebanon) today announced that his legislation to protect family assets has been signed into law by the governor as
Act 113 of 2018.
Registers of Wills are often required to mandate that personal representatives of estates post a bond as a condition of their appointments. The amount of the bond is related to the size of the estate. More often than not, personal representatives underestimate the amount of assets in an estate.
“The Register of Wills receives a true indication of the size of an estate when an inventory is filed, or when the personal representative files an inheritance tax return,” Ryan said. “As a Certified Public Accountant, I can attest that often, there are many months, and sometime years, left in the administration an estate after an initial inheritance tax return is filed.”
Current law grants “the Court,” not the Register the power to increase the amount of a probate bond posted for the faithful administration of an estate.
This is the very reason Ryan have introduced
House Bill 1885 (now Act 113). It would grant the Register of Wills the power, but not the duty, to increase the amount of a probate bond when the Register determines that a bond insufficiently protects the estate, and where estate administration is likely to proceed for some time.”
“The legislative process is arduous, but I pressed this issue because I believe that this measure will help protect the heirs of certain decedents’ estates,” Ryan said. “There is no intention to take any power away from the judiciary under this legislation, this measure is meant for the Register to share the power with Court.”
Representative Frank Ryan
101st Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Charles Lardner
717.260.6443
clardner@pahousegop.com
RepFrankRyan.com /
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