As a resilient, relentless advocate in all areas, Mary Jo Corsetti has been serving clients at Williams Coulson since the inception of the firm in 1995 and has been practicing Estates and Trusts since 1987, after serving a one-year judicial clerkship. Goals to which she is committed in each engagement include: moving the project forward, a focus on results, knowledge of the latest and best techniques, a practical (rather than purely academic) approach, and respecting the client’s priorities.
Personal:
Married since 1988 to Nicholas V. Corsetti, retired Deputy Prothonotary of the Superior Court of
Pennsylvania.
Three grown daughters: Monica C. Corsetti, M.D.; Mimi A. Corsetti, Mechanical and Industrial
Engineer and Certified Welder; Margo B. Corsetti, Mechanical Engineer.
Hobbies include: horseback riding, golf, piano, flute, singing, reading
Pets: one cat – Ralph Francis Corsetti
Honors & Accolades
- Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ since 1997 – to present
- SuperLawyers 2021-present
- 2018 Top Rated Lawyers/ALM/Martindale-Hubbell
- Avvo Superb 10/10
- 2015 Top Rated Lawyers/Trusts and Estates
- 2014 Five Star Estate Planning Attorney, Pittsburgh Magazine
- 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 Five Star Wealth Manager, Pittsburgh Magazine
- Pennsylvania’s Top Rated Lawyers 2013
- Athena Award Nominee (2009)
Publications
- Step by Step Guide to Drafting Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania; Basic Tax Concerns, August 8,
2022 (authored Basic Tax Concerns); National Business Institute - Tax Fundamentals for Estate Planning Attorneys, November 18, 2020 (presented and authored
Tax Law Updates); National Business Institute - Estate Administration from A to Z, April 30, 2019 (presented and authored the following Topics:
Digital Assets in Estate Administration, Disputes, Family Business, Jointly Held Assets, Powers
of Attorney, and Other Tricky Assets); National Business Institute - Estate Administration: the Complete Guide, December 19, 2019 (presented and authored the
following Topics: Tax Basis Reporting Requirements, Disabled Decedents); National Business
Institute - Estate Planning from A to Z, December 18, 2018 (presented and authored the following Topics:
Trusts 101; and Who is the Fiduciary?); National Business Institute - Probate: Everything You Need to Know, December 20, 2016 (presented and authored the
following Topics: Assets: How to Inventory, Locate, Secure, Value and Manage; and Top
Problems in Probate); National Business Institute - Tax Consequences and Estate Issues in Divorce, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, August 2012
(presenter and co-author of “Estate and Gift Tax Consequences in Divorce”, Selected Topics) - Fundamentals of Estate Administration, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (Pennsylvania Death Taxes),
September 2011 Update - “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
(also served as presenter) - “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
- “Fundamentals of Estate Planning” (part of course on Estate Planning in Pennsylvania); Lorman
Education Services, 2001 (also served as presenter) - “The (W)hole is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts”, University of Pittsburgh Institute for
Entrepreneurial Excellence Newsletter, September 1997 (Article on virtues of discounting) - “Less is More”, University of Pittsburgh Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence Newsletter, May
1997 (Article on trust planning and discounting) - “The Homecooked Will: A Recipe for Indigestion”, Pittsburgh Legal Journal, September 10,
1996
Speaking Engagements
- Step by Step Guide to Drafting Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania; Basic Tax Concerns, August 8,
2022 (presented on Basic Tax Concerns); National Business Institute - Drafting and Using Powers of Attorney, February 23, 2022 (presented on Drafting and Using
Durable Healthcare Powers of Attorney); Pennsylvania Bar Institute - Tax Fundamentals for Estate Planning Attorneys, November 18, 2020 (presented and authoried
Tax Law Updates); National Business Institute - Drafting and Using Powers of Attorney, August 6, 2020 (presented on Drafting and Using
Durable Healthcare Powers of Attorney); Pennsylvania Bar Institute - How to Write a Will, May 7, 2019; Pennsylvania Bar Institute
- Preparing the Fiduciary Income Tax Return, February 12, 2019; Pennsylvania Bar Institute
- Estate Administration from A to Z, April 30, 2019 (presented and authored the following Topics:
- Digital Assets in Estate Administration, Disputes, Family Business, Jointly Held Assets, Powers
of Attorney, and Other Tricky Assets); National Business Institute - Estate Administration: the Complete Guide, December 19, 2019 (presented and authored the
following Topics: Tax Basis Reporting Requirements, Disabled Decedents); National Business
Institute - Estate Planning from A to Z, December 18, 2018 (presented and authored the following Topics:
Trusts 101; and Who is the Fiduciary?); National Business Institute - Drafting and Using Powers of Attorney (September 13, 2018), Pennsylvania Bar Institute
A Continuing Retrospective of the Pennsylvania Uniform Trust Act (February 15, 2018), Pennsylvania Bar Institute - Will Contests: Preparing Your Case (August 9, 2017), Pennsylvania Bar Institute
- How to Write a Will/Drafting Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania (May 4, 2017), Pennsylvania Bar
Institute - Estate and Elder Law Symposium/Tax Reduction Strategies for the PA Inheritance Tax
(February 9, 2017), Pennsylvania Bar Institute - Probate: Everything You Need to Know (December 20, 2016), National Business Institute
- End- of-Year Tax, Business & Estate Law Strategies (November 9, 2016), Pennsylvania Bar
Institute - Retirement Planning and the Uniform Trust Act/Estate Planning for the Middle Market Client
(April 19, 2016), Pennsylvania Bar Institute - Coordinating Clients’ POA, Advanced Directives and Wills and Trusts (November 9, 2015),
Pennsylvania Bar Institute - Pennsylvania’s New Power of Attorney/What You Need to Know Six Months After Enactment
(June 30, 2015), Pennsylvania Bar Institute - Federal Fiduciary Income Tax Workshop (June 25, 2015), Foxmoor Continuing Education
- Using Trusts as Building Blocks for Your Client’s Estate Plan (June 24, 2015), Pennsylvania Bar
Institute - Common Abuses of Powers of Attorney and How to Deal with Them (June 5, 2014),
Pennsylvania Bar Institute - How to Prepare the Federal Estate and Gift Tax Return (December 3, 2013), Pennsylvania Bar
Institute - How to Write a Will and Other Essential Estate Planning Documents (July 16, 2013),
Pennsylvania Bar Institute - Tax Consequences and Estate Issues in Divorce (August 2012), Pennsylvania Bar Institute
- KQV AM/1040 (February 2012), radio presentation featuring estate planning topics, particularly
2012 planning issues - How to Prepare the Federal Estate and Gift Tax Return (December 13, 2011), Pennsylvania Bar
Institute - Fundamentals of Estate Administration (Death Taxes) (September 21 and 27, 2011),
Pennsylvania Bar Institute - How to Write a Will and Other Essential Estate Planning Documents (February 11, 2011),
Pennsylvania Bar Institute - ‘Money Talk’, WMNY AM/1360 (2010), WPTT AM/1360 (2004)
- Insolvent Estates (2010), Pennsylvania Bar Institute
Representative Experience
OPINIONS AND CASES
PUBLISHED/UNPUBLISHED APPELLATE OPINIONS AND CASES
- In re Virginia H. Chock, an Individual, 211WDA 2021. Non-Precedential Superior Court
Opinion. - In Re: Melva M. Pober, an Incapacitated Person, 484 WDA 2014, 815 WDA 2014, 1471 WDA
2014, 2024 WDA 2014. - In Re: Estate of Alan N. Lamfrom, Deceased, 1293 WDA 2012.
- In Re: Estate of Albert Gottesman, Deceased, 1486 WDA 2010.
- Estate of Samuel W. Harper, Deceased, 975 A.2d 1155 (2009).
- In Re:Francis J. Lynch, Jr., Debra A. Lynch, spouse and agent of Francis J. Lynch, Jr., 2001
WDA 2007. - ACR Management, LLC v. National Union Fire Insurance Company, et al., 1812 WDA 2003.
PUBLISHED TRIAL COURT OPINIONS
- In re: Barbara D. Dotter, 11 Fid. Rep. 3d 107 (O.C. Allegheny County 2019)
- Killilea Trust, 25 Fid. Rep. 2d 86 (O.C. Westmoreland County 2004).
- Sniderman Will, 20 Fid. Rep. 2d. 119 (Allegheny County 1999).
Practice of Law
- Comprehensive estates and trusts practice: planning, administration, taxation, Orphans’
Court litigation - Civil litigation
- Business transactions and planning
- Taxation
- Real estate
- Elder law
- Solicitor: Cheswick Borough Zoning Hearing Board
Estate/business documents and administration:
- Design, draft and implement multifaceted estate and business plans
- Complex wills, simple wills, pour over wills, revocable trusts, irrevocable insurance
trusts, dynasty trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, charitable trusts, intentionally
defective grantor trusts, BDOTs, QPRTs, GRATs, 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:
- Appeals
- Capacity issues
- Contested and uncontested
guardianship - Contracts
- Court Ordered Estate Plans
- Elective share
- Harassment (defended against criminal charges filed in connection with family dispute)
- Insurance coverage
- Jurisdiction (personal and subject matter)
- Malicious Prosecution, Abuse of Process
- Mortgage foreclosure matters
- Objections to Accounts
- Oil and Gas Lease matters
- Pennsylvania realty transfer tax
- Power of attorney/agency
- Preliminary Injunctions
- Prenuptial Agreements
- Prudent investor rule
- Shareholder disputes
- Standing
- Tortious interference with inheritance
- Trust interpretation, situs
- Trust termination
- Trustee breach of duty
- Trustee resignation/removal
- Undue influence
- Voidable transfers
- Will interpretation, lapse
- Zoning, variances
Litigation responsibilities: formulate strategy, prepare all pleadings, petitions and motions,
responses, objections, subpoenas, interrogatories, requests for production, subpoenas duces
tecum and other discovery, depose parties and witnesses, draft pre-trial statements and briefs,
advocate positions at hearings and trials, argue motions, prepare post-trial filings and briefs and
appellate filings and briefs, appellate oral argument, 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
Community Involvement
- Catholic Charities Development Committee (present)
- Baptist Homes Foundation Board of Directors
- Baptist Homes Foundation Advisory Board
- Diocese of Pittsburgh Planned Giving Advisory Board (present)
- Duquesne University Planned Giving Advisory Council
- 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 (present)
- KD & You and the Law (Sponsored by KDKA)
Press Mentions
- KQV AM/1040 (February 2012), radio presentation featuring estate planning topics, particularly
2012 planning issues - ‘Money Talk’, WMNY AM/1360 (2010), WPTT AM/1360 (2004)
- Sniderman Will, 20 Fid. Rep. 2d. 119 (1999). Article featured in the January 1, 2000 Edition,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.