In re: Order Amending Rules 801-816, 818 and 820, and Ascending Rule 817 of the...

FINAL REPORT1

Amendments to Rules 801-803, 805-816, 818 and 820, Amendment to the Official Note of Rule 804, and Rescission of Rule 817 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil

Procedure before Magisterial District Judges

AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 800 RULES: MINORS

AND INCAPACITATED PERSONS AS PARTIES

I. Introduction and Background

The Minor Court Rules Committee (the “Committee”) recommended amendments to the Chapter 800 rules of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure before Magisterial District Judges (“Rules”). The Chapter 800 Rules address minors and “incompetents” as parties, and have been largely unchanged since the inception of the Rules.

The Committee received a suggestion that it examine the Chapter 800 Rules, and, specifically, examine the use of the terms “incompetent” and “incompetency”, in light of statutory changes that updated the terminology to “incapacitated persons” and “incapacity.” In doing so, the Committee noted numerous changes needed to update the Rules, including (1) revising the terminology, statutory citations, and references to the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, (2) making the Rules gender neutral, and (3) rescinding Rule 817, which is now obsolete due to definition changes in the relevant statutes.

In examining the relevant sections of the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, see 20 Pa.C.S. § 55012, the Committee determined that the term “incompetent” was abandoned in favor of the term “incapacitated person.” 20 Pa.C.S. § 5501. This terminology is also reflected in the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. See Pa.R.C.P. No. 2051. According, the Committee proposes updating the Rules to change all references to “incompetent” and “incompetency” to “incapacitated person” and “incapacity”, respectively.

In reviewing the Chapter 800 Rules, the Committee also noted the outdated use of gender specific pronouns throughout the Rules (e.g., he, his and him). Thus, in keeping with a preference to make the Rules gender neutral, the Committee proposed updating the Chapter 800 Rules to use gender neutral pronouns, and remove gender specific language.

Finally, in light of the statutory changes referenced above, as well as changes to the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, the Committee determined that updates to statutory citations and cross-references to the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure were necessary.

II. Rule Changes

The Committee proposed amendments to Rules 801-803, 805-816, 818 and 820 to (1) change the terms “incompetent” and “incompetency” to “incapacitated person” and “incapacity”, (2) make the Rules gender neutral, (3) update statutory references and cross-references to the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. The Committee also noted two editorial comments in the Official Notes to Rules 808 and 813 that did not add to a better understanding of the Rules, and, therefore, recommended their deletion.

Finally, the Committee recommended rescinding Rule 817 because the rule is no longer necessary due to a change to the statutory definition of an incapacitated person. By definition, an incapacitated person is an adult; thus, Rule 817, which addressed the situation where a party was “both an incompetent and a minor”, is no longer needed. See 20 Pa.C.S. § 5501.