Attorneys on Monday whittled down the management of Shirley Jordan’s estate to one question: Will the Upper St. Clair widow benefit from the charitable foundation attorney Charles McCullough started in her and her late husband’s names? Attorneys representing McCullough say she will — by avoiding taxes that would be levied if the foundation was started after she died. An attorney representing Jordan, the 91-year-old widow, is less sure. “The question that still remains is whether the foundation … (is) necessary,” said John G. Eidemueller Jr., Jordan’s attorney. McCullough tapped her trust to help donate $10,000 each to Republican Superior Court candidate Judge Cheryl Allen and Allegheny County Council members Vince Gastgeb, Jan Rea and Susan Caldwell. He also helped donate $10,000 from the trust to the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, which is headed by his wife, former Common Pleas Judge Patricia McCullough. All parties eventually returned the donations after learning Jordan suffered from dementia. Common Pleas Judge Lee J. Mazur plans to have a conference on McCullough’s accounting of the Jordan estate. No date has been set. Attorneys said they resolved other issues related to McCullough’s management of the Jordan estate. Eidemueller said he reviewed fees from McCullough that his former firm, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, charged Jordan and found them to be “fair and reasonable.” Eidemueller had filed an objection Aug. 14 to about $100,000 in fees. McCullough in May won the GOP primary for an at-large seat on county council.

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