IN RE: ESTATE OF CHARLES F. CELLA, DECEASED APPEAL OF: AUDREY C. LOCKE

IN RE: ESTATE OF CHARLES F. CELLA, DECEASED APPEAL OF: AUDREY C. LOCKE No. 1479 WDA 2008 2010 PA Super 146 Atlantic: n/a Filed: 8/10/2010
	Appeal from the Order August 6, 2008 In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County Orphans’ Court, No. 2317 of 2005
Before: GANTMAN, PANELLA, AND ALLEN, JJ.
Opinion by: GANTMAN, J.
Appellant, Audrey C. Locke, appeals from the order entered in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Orphans’ court, which directed the funds in three (3) joint bank accounts to be included in the estate of Charles F. Cella (“Decedent”) and distributed in accordance with his last will and testament. Appellant asks us to determine whether she is the owner of the subject accounts by means of her statutory right of survivorship pursuant to the Multiple Party Account Act at 20 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6301-6306 (“MPAA”). For the following reasons, we hold the record does not support the court’s decision to override the MPAA, where Appellee, Reba Cella-Renk, failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Decedent had an intent contrary to Appellant’s right of survivorship when he created the joint accounts. Accordingly, we reverse and remand this case to the Orphans’ court for treatment of the accounts at issue consistent with this opinion.

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