Stephen Bilkis
Protecting your interests
and your loved one’s wishes
833.725.2972 Request A Free Consultation

Multiple Personal Representatives

There are many different complex Pennsylvania probate requirements that should be explored and understood clearly by a person who has been appointed in this role. Furthermore, other parties interested in the outcome of the estate might have their own grounds to have questions about personal representatives and their abilities and actions within a case.

This is particularly true if a person stands to be a beneficiary of the estate but discovers that a personal representative is unfit or has carried out illegal actions while serving in this fiduciary duty and needs to be removed from the case. It is not required to have only one sole personal representative.

In fact, there are many different cases in which co-personal representatives might be appointed. One such example could include when a person outside the state of Pennsylvania chooses to serve with a co-personal representative so that the resident of Pennsylvania can have management over the estate's assets. A multiple personal representatives lawyer in Pennsylvania can help you to understand this.

There are some reasons, however, when you want to have multiple people overseeing the closing of your estate. It’s important that these people not only get along with one another, but also that they can get along with the heirs of the estate. The last thing a person who has established an estate plan wants is for conflict to delay the closing out of the estate while putting all the heirs in that challenging position. Make sure that you think carefully about whether or not you want to accept a role serving as a co personal representative, too, so that you know what to expect.

A multiple personal representatives attorney in Pennsylvania is the most important advocate you can contact if you find yourself in a complicated probate administration. A multiple personal representatives lawyer in Pennsylvania will advise you about how the various facts of the case will be affected by Pennsylvania probate statutes. In cases in which multiple personal representatives are serving, the court usually does not allow for fiduciary compensation to be stacked simply because of the fact that multiple people are serving in this role.

While the court explores the individual specifics of the estate and the role that each personal representative has had to play, in determining compensation a number of personal representatives serving and the individual roles they have played during estate administration is a factor considered when outlining compensation.

The court usually will allocate compensation among numerous personal representatives regardless of the fact that one personal representative did an unequal amount of the effort, since every personal representative still had individual responsibility for the administration.

This is outlined under Pa. D and C .2D 520 and 26 FIDUC.Rep554. If a personal representative has engaged the services of a corporate personal representative to help with the management of estate administration, this could reduce the compensation that is awarded to the personal representative.

Corporate personal representatives usually charge according to a fee schedule submitted to the Orphan's Court. The support of an attorney is instrumental in assisting with these complicated probate administration issues and an attorney should be retained as soon as possible for anyone who is thinking about who is going to serve in a probate personal representative role.

More than one personal representative can certainly make things more difficult for the beneficiaries, especially if the various people involved are all handling some aspect of the estate closing. This is a big reason why most people only choose a primary representative and then a contingent representative to step in if something happens to the original person.

Client Reviews
★★★★★
"Had the great fortune to know David Dessen and Bonnie Moses for decades. I respect both their legal opinions as well as their good work. I highly recommend them. Not only for my legal issues but I refer them when I’m asked for an attorney in the Philadelphia area." SS
Contact Us for a Free Consultation
Contact Us