Court Opinion

ID: 9732942
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:45:32.69647+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:36.541000
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice
(dissenting).
Section 3521 of the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, 20 Pa.C.S. § 3521 (Special Pamphlet, 1974), imposes two limitations on the power of an orphans’ court to review its decrees: the petition must be filed within five years after final confirmation of an account, and the court may not “impose liability on the personal repre*118sentative as to any property which was distributed by him in accordance with a decree of court before the filing of the petition.” I would import no judicially created barriers to review into the statute.
Because neither statutory limitation would bar review in this case, the orphans’ court was bound to “give such relief as equity and justice shall require . . . .” The majority Concedes that “the equities weight in favor of the adopted grandson.” Ante at 682. In my view, that conclusion is sufficient to dispose of this case. I would remand the case to the orphans’ court for review of the prior decree and revision in light of Tafel Estate, 449 Pa. 442, 296 A.2d 797 (1972). Therefore, I dissent.
MANDERINO, J., joins in this dissent.