New Law in Pennsylvania to Protect Elders

I recently blogged about how Pennsylvania excepted smaller farms from the estate tax.  Yesterday, Governor Tom Corbett signed another bill into law that should benefit Pennsylvania residents. The bill is comically referred to as “the Granny Snatching bill,” and it provides for uniform adult guardianship and protective proceedings jurisdiction. The Governor signed the bill into law as Act 108 of 2012, and it is to take effect in 60 days. 

Act 108 is about court-oriented jurisdictional, transfer, and enforcement issues that relate to adult guardianships and adult protective proceedings.  The Act is based on a national statutory model that participants approved at the 2007 annual meeting of the National Conference of Commissioners for Uniform State Laws.  Connecticut, and Maine adopted the model Act in 2012, and seven other states are considering it.  

The Act should provide Pennsylvania Orphans’ Court judges with clear jurisdictional agencies, and the Commonwealth’s Area Agencies on Aging should have new tools to expedite remedies for elder abuse.

See New “Granny Snatching” Law in PA, PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog, July 6, 2012.  

Special thanks to Neil E. Hendershot (Esq., Serratelli, Schiffman & Brown, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.