610-565-3701
Media Wills, Trusts, Estates

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Media Wills, Trusts & Estates Firm

Serving Clients With Large and Small Estates Across Pennsylvania

From our offices in Media, PA, the lawyers and paralegals of the estates department of Eckell Sparks provide a broad range of trust and estate services for large and small clients in Delaware County and across the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

Planning, Administration and Guardianship

Our attorneys help clients make their intentions known, optimize estates for taxation and administration purposes, and will serve as executors to ensure that your intentions are faithfully carried out. Our services include—

Basic Estate Planning

Estate Tax Planning

  • Buy-sell agreements
  • Charitable trusts
  • Defective grantor trusts
  • Family limited partnerships
  • Grantor retained annuity/unitrusts
  • IRA trusts
  • Life insurance trusts
  • Marital deduction/credit shelter wills
  • Personal residence trusts
  • Private annuities
  • Split-dollar agreements

Estate Administration / Trust Administration / Guardianships

  • Probate
  • Inheritance tax preparation and filing
  • Accounting
  • Will contests
  • Fiduciary income tax preparation

Orphan’s Court Litigation

Our lawyers also handle Orphans’ Court litigation designed to protect the personal and property rights of all persons and entities who are not capable of handling their own affairs. This includes matters involving—

  • Minors
  • Incapacitated persons
  • Decendents’ estates
  • Nonprofit corporations
  • Trusts

In addition to commercial disputes, we represent clients in a variety of probate matters including will and estate litigation in the Orphans’ Courts of Philadelphia, Delaware, Chester and Montgomery counties. Litigation focused on estates and trusts is a rapidly growing area. Our estate litigators work closely with and are supported by the expertise of the estate department attorneys with a breadth of knowledge in tax and estate administration.

Litigation in Orphans’ Court includes—

  • Representation in basic will contests, as well as complex will contests receiving local, regional, and national media coverage
  • Evaluation and litigation of undue influence and incapacity issues
  • Assistance to executors and trustees on preventing and handling disputes
  • Preparation and presentment of fiduciary accountings
  • Assessment of claims by beneficiaries of estates and trusts
  • Counsel on the challenge to or defense of lifetime transfers, gifts, joint accounts, jointly owned property, and beneficiary designations
  • Acceptance of appointments by probate judges as counsel and guardians
  • Recovery of costs and counsel fees from estates and trusts

Litigating When Necessary

It is critical that people understand that the size of an estate or trust does not negate the need for appropriate litigation experience. We handle the planning and administration for estates and trusts ranging from thousands to millions of dollars. Our firm works closely with financial planners, accountants, trust companies, insurance underwriters, and banking institutions to provide the highest quality of service possible. The attorneys in our estates department have tax backgrounds, and as such they are able to use all techniques available to either reduce or eliminate estate taxes. We have no cookie-cutter plans. We tailor our advice to each client. We are prepared to defend our advice and to ensure—in court if necessary that our clients’ interests and intentions as stated in their wills are aggressively protected. We also represent incompetents and minors in guardianship proceedings. For further information on the services our estates department can provide to you, please contact one of our attorneys—

Guy F. Matthews
Chair of the Department
Phone: 1-610-565-3701 x232
Web: Contact Form
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 1-610-565-7866

Joseph L. Monte, Jr.
Phone: 1-610-565-3701 x225
Web: Contact Form
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 1-610-565-7866

Daniel R. Coleman
Phone: 1-610-565-3701 x262
Web: Contact Form
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 1-610-565-7866

Catherine T. Duffy
Phone: 1-610-565-3701 x234
Web: Contact Form
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 1-610-565-7866

Murray S. Eckell
Phone: 1-610-565-3701 x242
Web: Contact Form
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 1-610-565-1596

Sam S. Auslander
Phone: 1-610-565-3701 x246
Web: Contact Form
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 1-610-565-7866

Joseph E. Lastowka, Jr.
Phone: 1-610-565-3701 x273
Web: Contact Form
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 1-610-565-7866

Jonathan E. Becker
Phone: 1-610-565-3701 x275
Web: Contact Form
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 1-610-565-7866