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Litigation Definitions
May an Executor Ask an Orphan’s Court Judge to Clarify Terms of a Will?

by Peter Klenk, Esq. & Amanda Gormley, Esq.

My firm focuses exclusively in the area of Wills, Trusts, and Probate, so clients will often approach us with Wills and Trusts drafted by other attorneys or testators for interpretation. We take pride in making these complex documents understandable to the non-expert, however, sometimes clients will bring us a Will or Trust drafted so poorly that even we are unable to fully understand its terms. Frequently, such ambiguity in the document is the result of a typo that was not caught by the drafting attorney (the scrivener’s error) or sometimes it is because the drafter simply did not understand how a Will or Trust should work. When this happens, what options are available to the Executor of a deceased’s estate?

In such a situation it is our practice to first attempt to bring the Beneficiaries to an agreement over the terms of the document. The Courts support Family Settlement Agreements, wherein all interested parties come together by written agreement and collectively settle the problem among each other. This approach is by far the least expensive way of settling these situations and it avoids the family conflict and additional expense created by litigating the matter.

Unfortunately, sometimes beneficiaries cannot agree. This may be because of the Will’s terms, the assets involved in the conflict, or family dynamics. Such irreconcilable differences between the parties often force us to Petition the Orphan’s or Surrogate’s Court to intervene on behalf of the beneficiaries, executors, and personal representatives. Sadly, such a result is often the case with a poorly drafted Will or Trust that would have, otherwise, been probated or administrated had it been drafted properly from the beginning.

If we are unsuccessful in brining all the parties to a Family Settlement Agreement, another available option is to submit a Petition for Declaratory Judgment to the Court. For example, when an Executor or Administrator of a probate estate, or a Trustee of a Revocable or Irrevocable Trust finds that the document’s terms are vague or conflicting and no Family Agreement can be negotiated between the Beneficiaries, Title 42 Section 7535 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes states the following:

“Any person interested, as or through an executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, or other fiduciary, creditor, devisee, legatee, heir, next of kin, or cestui que trust, in the administration of a trust, or of the estate of a decedent, an infant, lunatic, or insolvent, may have a declaration of rights or legal relations in respect thereto:

  1. To ascertain any class of creditors, devisees, legatees, heirs, next of kin, or others.
  2. To direct the executors, administrators, or trustees to do or abstain from doing any particular act in their fiduciary capacity.
  3. To determine any question arising in the administration of the estates or trust, including questions of construction of Wills and other writings.”

Given the facts in the example, the Trustee, Executor, or Administrator has the option of petitioning the Court for Declaratory Judgment under Title 42 Pa.C.S. Section 7535. Such a Petition would request that the Court interpret the disputed language in the Will or Trust.

All interested parties then have the chance to appear before the judge and explain their positions and submit written briefs to the Court in support of their positions. An interested party is generally any Beneficiary under the document, provided he or she is a competent adult. If the Beneficiary is a minor or an incapacitated person, the person’s legal guardian, or, a gaurdian ad litem appointed by the judge, will represent the Beneficiary’s interests. Once the judge has all the information he or she will need to make a determination, the judge will issue an Order and Decree settling the dispute. The Executor, Trustee, or Administrator (as the case may be) then uses the Order and Decree to manage the Trust or Will.

The first effort in any dispute over a vague or badly drafted Will or Trust should be to negotiate and settle the matter, but, when this option fails, the Courts exist to settle such disputes. In my experience, the Orphan’s Court judges are very intelligent and reasonable persons, so a client should not fear bringing his or her case before the Court. This process is, however, expensive, so all other avenues of settlement must be exhausted first.