Court Opinion

ID: 9732941
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:45:32.687568+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:36.540612
License: Public Domain

NIX, Justice
(dissenting).
I cannot accept the unwarranted restrictive interpretation of Section 3521 of the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, 20 Pa.C.S. § 3521 (Special Pamphlet, 1974), employed by the majority. In addition to the two expressed limitations on the power of the Orphans’ Court Division to reconsider its actions, the majority today imposes a third. It would prevent that court from reconsidering a former action in light of a change in the law in the interim where the question was passed upon on appeal.
Where an appellate court has confessed error or abandoned a former doctrine, I fail to see a disservice to the orderly operation of our court system in allowing the Orphans’ Court Division, upon proper petition under the provisions of this section, to conform its earlier action in accordance with the new view. Because I believe "equity and justice” require such relief to be given I must respectfully dissent.