COURT ORDERED AN AGENT UNDER POWER OF ATTORNEY TO PROVIDE AN ACCOUNTING OF HER ADMINISTRATION
The court ordered an agent who had acted under a power of attorney to provide an accounting in connection with the administration of an estate.
Decedent died in September 2016. Two of her children commenced an estate proceeding in June 2019. The matter before the court, involved a power of attorney, which decedent had executed in June 2016. That document named another decedent’s children, Theresa Watkinson, as her agent.
Petitioner, one of the co-administrators of decedent’s estate, sought to compel an accounting from Watkinson concerning actions taken by her during decedent’s lifetime under the power of attorney. The second co-administrator did not join in the petition. Watkinson allegedly transferred assets of decedent into her own name.
Watkinson opposed the request for an accounting. She argued the issues raised in the petition were time-barred. Additionally, Watkinson stated that all of the actions she took were agreed to by all parties and decedent.
Pursuant to 20 Pa. C.S.A. 5610, the court had authority to order an agent under a power of attorney to file an accounting. A single co-administrator generally had authority to act unilaterally on behalf of the estate if the act fell within the ordinary course of the administration of the estate. Locating potential assets of a decedent’s estate was a normal function of an estate administrator. The court concluded that petitioner had the legal right as a co-administrator and as an heir to request an accounting from Watkinson.
Relying on 42 Pa. C.S.A. 5534, Watkinson argued that the two-year statute of limitations prevented the estate from recovering any assets that had been re-titled. She claimed that petitioner and the other heirs knew about the actions taken under the power of attorney and simply waited too long in attempting to recover any of the assets. The record indicated that petitioner was not immediately aware of the transfers made under the power of attorney. Petitioner and another heir testified that they thought the asset would be in the estate or in trust for the heirs. They did not learn until afterwards that Watkinson had instead transferred assets to herself. Petitioner stated that she did not initiate the estate proceeding until June 2019 because she was attempting to ascertain from Watkinson what had occurred. even assuming a two-year statute of limitation applied, petitioner was not aware of the actions taken by Watkinson under the power of attorney until later.
An action to recover transferred assets from an agent under a power of attorney was equitable in nature, so the statute of limitations did not control whether the claims were time-barred. The applicable defense was laches, and the party asserting laches had to show any prejudice as the result of the delay in filing an action. Watkinson failed to show any prejudice here. Therefore, the court ordered an accounting and allowed the matter to proceed to a hearing.
REF: Digests of Recent Opinions, Pennsylvania Law Weekly, 43 PLW 909, Tuesday, October 6, 2020, In re: Estate of Mahistadt, PICS Case No. 20-0979 (C.P. MONROE, Aug. 31, 2020)
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