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Amanda DiChello

Cozen O'Connor PC

Amanda DiChello helps her clients navigate the legal and emotional intricacies that impact the preservation of family and personal wealth through multiple generations. Amanda also advises her clients on legal strategies to address family and monetary problems with an aim towards protecting her clients’ assets and minimizing both their legal risks and their tax and other financial liabilities.

If family discord leads to litigation, however, Amanda is an experienced and savvy advocate for her clients in matters associated with estate, trust, and fiduciary litigation. Her clients include high net worth individuals, beneficiaries, and families; private and charitable foundations; family offices; and individual and corporate fiduciaries.

A substantial number of Amanda’s clients are high net worth women who have either inherited significant wealth or who have independently built and grown significant wealth. Amanda understands the delicate interplay between the transition of wealth and the preservation of the family unit, through her work as an attorney advising high net worth individuals and families on estate, tax, and wealth planning and business succession planning matters.

Amanda’s knowledge of the law is recognized by her peers and various state legal organizations and associations which regularly invite Amanda to speak, publish, and instruct other attorneys on topics including estate, wealth, and tax planning, will and trust disputes, fiduciary litigation, trust and estate litigation, and charitable trust and nonprofit issues.

Recognized as a legal influencer by Lexology, Amanda recently received the Content Marketing Award in Q4 of 2018 for her work on the firm’s trusts and estates litigation blog, At Your Bequest. She has served as an expert witness in Pennsylvania courts in areas associated with estate and trust litigation, including fiduciary surcharge disputes.

Amanda is currently serving a three-year term as a member of the Council for the Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, which provides advice and comment to the Pennsylvania legislature on proposed changes to Pennsylvania law associated with real property, probate, and trust-related laws.

She serves as a legal adviser to Chestnut Hill Conservancy and Historical Society and also as an adjunct professor of law at Villanova University School of Law, where she instructs on the subject of wealth and transfer of taxation.

Amanda is one of only nine other lawyers in Pennsylvania who is recognized for excellence in and as a leading practitioner in the area of private wealth law by Chambers and Partners within its 2017 and 2018 High Net Worth Guide.

Her understanding of complicated tax issues stems not only from her practical legal experience but also from her dual advanced legal credentials. Amanda earned her undergraduate degree from The Pennsylvania State University and her law degree from the Roger Williams School of Law in Rhode Island, where she graduated with honors.

Amanda also holds an LL.M. in tax from the Villanova University School of Law Graduate Tax Program, as well as an LL.M. in trial advocacy from Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she graduated with high honors and was the sole recipient of the faculty award for outstanding achievement in courtroom presentation and performance.

EXPERIENCE :

  • Tried a 30-day will challenge in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Probate Part, Gloucester County, involving disposition of decedent’s farm and the validity of the decedent’s will; obtained a verdict upholding the validity of the decedent’s will despite allegations of lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence.
  • Convinced the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas, Orphans’ Court Division, that typical will challenge concepts of undue influence and lack of testamentary capacity should apply to challenges to a payable on death beneficiary designation form for a brokerage/securities account.
  • Defended an executor in a two-week surcharge and removal lawsuit in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Orphans’ Court Division, involving allegations by the beneficiaries that the executor favored herself over other beneficiaries and mismanaged the estate assets.
  • Represented an executor before the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Orphans’ Court Division, who was the decedent’s significant other, in a surcharge action wherein the decedent’s children alleged the executor mismanaged the estate and misappropriated estate assets in his favor; established that a purchase money resulting trust existed in favor of the decedent’s significant other, resulting in dismissal of the surcharge action.
  • Sought and obtained court removal of a co-trustee and co-executor in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, Orphans’ Court Division, due to delay in completing administration of an estate for more than a decade and failure to properly account for administration of estate and trust.
  • Represented the guardian of the person of an incapacitated person in Philadelphia County, Pa. in obtaining a significant increase in the monthly budget for the incapacitated person’s estate for the care and maintenance of the incapacitated person.
  • In a guardianship action in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, Orphans’ Court Division, obtained an emergency court-appointment of a guardian of the person and a guardian of the estate of an incapacitated woman whose mother passed away unexpectedly.
  • Brought an action before the Register of Wills of Philadelphia County establishing that the decedent’s alleged husband was never legally married to the decedent and therefore was not entitled to Letters of Administration as the decedents’ surviving spouse.
  • Represented a trust beneficiary before the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, Orphans’ Court Division, to compel trustees to account and subsequently negotiated and obtained a sizeable settlement for her client before litigation concerning the accounting commenced.

EDUCATION :

  • Roger Williams University, Ralph R. Papitto School of Law, J.D., 2005
  • Temple University—James E. Beasley School of Law, LL.M., 2011
  • Villanova University School of Law, LL.M., 2006
  • Pennsylvania State University, B.A., 2002

BAR ADMISSIONS : New Jersey; Pennsylvania

COURT ADMISSIONS : U.S. Tax Court

AFFILIATIONS :

  • Council Member, Pennsylvania Bar Association, Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law Section
  • Legal Counsel, Chestnut Hill Historical Society
  • Philadelphia Bar Association Probate and Trust Section, Orphans’ Court Litigation Committee
  • Philadelphia Estate Planning Council
  • Adjunct Professor Law, Graduate Tax Program, Villanova University School of Law
  • Barrister Member, Villanova Law J. Willard O’Brien American Inn of Court
  • Acorn Club of Philadelphia
  • Comfort Caring Canines, Therapy Dogs, Inc., Volunteer, Member, Certified Dog Handler

Cost

Rate : $$$

What types of cases Attorney Amanda DiChello & Cozen O'Connor PC can handle?
Cozen O'Connor PC can handle cases related to laws concerning Trusts, Litigation. We manually verify each attorney’s practice areas before approving their profiles and reviews on our website.
Where is Cozen O'Connor PC located?
Cozen O'Connor PC is located at One Liberty Place, 1650 Market Street, Suite 2800, Philadelphia, PA 19103, United States. You can reach out to Cozen O'Connor PC using their phone line (215) 665-4664. You can also check their website cozen.com or email them at adichello@cozen.com.
How much would it cost to hire Cozen O'Connor PC?
Amanda DiChello lawyer charges are specific to each case. However, they work with contingency fees and its ranges from $$ to $$$. They also provide free consultation [and no obligation quotes] if you are interested to hire.
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Cozen O'Connor PC
One Liberty Place, 1650 Market Street, Suite 2800, Philadelphia, PA 19103, United States
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