Mary Jo Corsetti

Mary Jo Corsetti
Partner

412-454-0228
mcorsetti@williamscoulson.com

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MEMBER OF THE PENNSYLVANIA BAR 1986-present

Partner, Williams Coulson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: October 1995-present Associate, Eckert Seamans, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: January 1990-October 1995
Associate, Hepburn Willcox, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: September 1987-December 1989
Law Clerk, Superior Court of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: August 1986-August 1987

PRACTICE OF LAW
    -Comprehensive estates and trusts practice: planning, administration,     taxation, Orphans’ Court litigation
    -Civil litigation
    -Business transactions and planning
    -Asset protection
    -Real estate
    -Elder law

Practice Strengths:
Value based, strategy oriented, proactive

Strategy-oriented representation:
    -Meet with client to formulate strategy
    -Draft documents appropriate to strategy
    -Obtain applicable court approval for strategy
    -Execute documents
    -Complete all filings
    -Appear in court as necessary
    -Implement settlement agreements, recommend changes of title and beneficiary designations, obtain approvals or consents

Estate/business documents and administration:
     -Complex wills, simple wills, pour over wills, revocable trusts, irrevocable insurance trusts, dynasty trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, charitable remainder trusts, specialized grantor trusts, special needs trusts
    -Disclaimers, elective share documentation, powers of appointment and exercises thereof
    -Family limited partnership and LLC organization and agreement documents, assignments
    -Private annuities, deeds, notes, mortgages, purchase and sale agreements and other documents incident to business transactions
    -Receipt and release or full court accounting
    -Returns and documentation related to Federal estate tax, Commonwealth/State inheritance tax, estate/trust income tax, individual income tax, realty transfer tax

Matters litigated:
    -Lack of capacity
    -Undue influence
    -Tortious interference with inheritance
    -Trust interpretation
    -Trust termination
    -Trustee breach of duty
    -Trustee resignation/removal
    -Contested and uncontested guardianship
    -Power of attorney/agency
    -Elective share
    -Will interpretation, lapse
    -Objections to Accounts
    -Contracts
    -Pennsylvania realty transfer tax
    -Prudent investor rule
    -Insurance coverage
    -Zoning, variances
    -Mortgage foreclosure matters
    -Adoption

Litigation responsibilities: formulate strategy, prepare all pleadings, petitions and motions, responses, objections, subpoenas, interrogatories, requests for production, subpoenas duces tecum, prepare for and attend depositions of parties and witnesses, prepare client for his or her deposition, draft pre-trial statements and briefs, prepare for and advocate positions at hearings, argue motions, prepare post-trial filings and briefs and appellate filings and briefs, negotiate settlements, draft settlement documents, implement settlement agreements

Forums: Courts of Common Pleas in both Eastern and Western Pennsylvania (Civil and Orphans’ Court Divisions), Superior Court of Pennsylvania, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR
Duquesne University, John F. Donahue Graduate School of Business (2007)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS/COMMUNITY SERVICE
Rotary Club of Pittsburgh/Rotary International

Diocese of Pittsburgh Planned Giving Advisory Board

Duquesne University Planned Giving Advisory Council

National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys

Allegheny County Bar Association: Elder Law Committee and Probate and Trust Law Section (2008)

Board of School Directors, Allegheny Valley School District (2007)

Represented estates of servicemen who died in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm

Advisor: Statewide Mock Trial Competition, Springdale High School

Cantor and Instrumentalist, Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church

Education Committee, Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church (2007)

DISTINCTIONS

2009 Five Star Wealth Manager, Pittsburgh Magazine (July 2009)

Athena Award Nominee (2009)

PUBLICATIONS

“Do Unto Mother…(Estate Planning Ideas for Parents and Adult Children Who Reside Together)”, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence Newsletter, March 2007

“Pennsylvania Estate Planning and Drafting Fundamentals”, National Business Institute, 2004

“Who Needs an Estate Plan? Those Who Do Not Want an Estate Accident”, Cranberry Journal Star, December 2002

“What’s the Actual Cost of Probate? It’s 1984!”, Cranberry Journal Star, November 2002

“The (W)hole is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts”, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence Newsletter, September 1997

“Less is More”, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence Newsletter, May 1997

"The Homecooked Will: A Recipe for Indigestion", Pittsburgh Legal Journal, September 10, 1996

"Extending the Loan of Life: Anatomical Giving in Pennsylvania", Pittsburgh Legal Journal, September 7, 1995, Pennsylvania Law Weekly (in two segments), October 2 and October 9, 1995, and on the Internet at http://nals.org

"Savvier on Cellular", Pittsburgh Legal Journal, April 18, 1995, Pennsylvania Law Weekly, May 22, 1995, and NCISS Report (The National Voice of Private Investigation and Security), August 1995

"Death Unwilled", Successful Women™, March 1995

"Careless on the Cordless", Pittsburgh Legal Journal, November 28, 1994

"Estate Planning and Probate in Pennsylvania", published by the National Business Institute; author of these subjects: living wills, powers of attorney, revocable trusts, testamentary trusts, income taxation of trusts, and special trusts for disabled persons, 1988

MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION

Mediator, Accredited by the Association for Conflict Resolution
Mediator, United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
Arbitrator, United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

EDUCATION

University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 1986
William Frederick Schulz, Jr., Legal History Award for seminar paper entitled “From Glanville to Saint Paul: Adoption Law in Nineteenth Century Pennsylvania”
Honors in Legal Writing
Niagara International Moot Court Tournament, Toronto, Ontario
Appellate Moot Court Competition

Duquesne University, Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, 1983 Summa Cum Laude, first in class
Concentration in Finance
Minor in English (Honors Program)
Phi Kappa Phi National Honorary Fraternity

INTERNSHIPS
United States General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C., 1985
United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, 1985
References and articles are available upon request.

Ms. Corsetti may be contacted at 412-454-0228, or by email at mcorsetti@williamscoulson.com.

Williams Coulson is a Pittsburgh-based firm which concentrates its practice in estate, business, tax, corporate, and retirement planning services.

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