Pennsylvania Probate Process: the Register of Wills, Letters, Claims and the Account

By Rozsa Gyene, California estate planning attorney, State Bar of California #208356. Published October 1, 2026. Last reviewed October 1, 2026.

This guide follows the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, Title 20 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, from the first visit to the Register of Wills to the final account. Each rule is cited to its section. Pennsylvania's own statute pages, the court system's site and the Philadelphia Register of Wills pages were read on October 1, 2026. It describes Pennsylvania law in general terms and is not advice about any one estate.

Two offices: the Register of Wills and the Orphans' Court Division

Pennsylvania splits probate between two county offices. The register of wills has jurisdiction, within the county, of the probate of wills, the grant of letters to a personal representative, and any other matter provided by law (section 901). The Court of Common Pleas exercises its jurisdiction over the administration and distribution of the real and personal property of decedents' estates through its orphans' court division (section 711(1)); the same section provides that the register continues to grant letters testamentary and of administration (section 711(12)). The Unified Judicial System describes the Courts of Common Pleas as the trial courts of Pennsylvania, organized into 60 judicial districts, and lists the Registers of Wills and Orphans' Court Clerks for each county among the court offices on its Courts of Common Pleas page. The Philadelphia page and the other city pages describe the county offices.

Where the will is probated

The will of a decedent domiciled in Pennsylvania is probated only before the register of the county where the decedent had his last family or principal residence (section 3131), and letters testamentary or of administration are granted only by that register (section 3151). If the decedent had no Pennsylvania domicile, the will may be probated, and letters granted, in any county where property of the estate is located. A will may be offered for probate at any time (section 3133(a)), but a will offered more than one year after the testator's death is void against a bona fide grantee or lienholder of the testator's real estate whose conveyance or lien was recorded before the will was offered (section 3133(c)).

Step 1: proving the will

All wills are proved by the oaths or affirmations of two competent witnesses (section 3132). Where the testator signed his own name, proof by the subscribing witnesses is preferred to the extent they are readily available, and proof of the testator's signature is preferred to proof of a witness's signature. Where the will was signed by mark or by another person for the testator, proof must be by the subscribing witnesses unless the register is satisfied that such proof cannot be obtained with reasonable diligence. A will that carries a self-proving acknowledgment and witness affidavits made before an officer authorized to administer oaths is accepted by the register as proof of the facts stated, unless the will's validity is contested or it was signed by mark or by another (section 3132.1). The will signing guide covers the execution rules in section 2502.

Step 2: the petition for letters and who receives them

The petition for letters states under oath the decedent's name, age, domicile, last residence, and the place and day of death; for an intestate decedent, the surviving spouse and the other heirs with their addresses; for a testate decedent, whether the will was modified by any of the circumstances in section 2507; the estimated value of the personal property and the estimated value and location of Pennsylvania real estate; and the name and address of each person to whom letters are requested (section 3153). Before letters are granted, the personal representative swears that he will well and truly administer the estate according to law (section 3161).

Letters testamentary go to the executor designated in the will (section 3155(a)). Letters of administration go, except for good cause, in this order: those entitled to the residuary estate under the will; the surviving spouse; those entitled under the intestate law as the register judges will best administer the estate, with preference by the size of their shares; the principal creditors; other fit persons; a nominee of a person who renounces; a guardianship support agency; and a redevelopment authority (section 3155(b)). Except with the consent of the first three classes, no letters issue to creditors, other fit persons or a redevelopment authority until 30 days after the death (section 3155(c)). The register may not grant letters to a person charged with voluntary manslaughter or homicide, other than homicide by vehicle, in connection with the decedent's death until the charge is withdrawn or dismissed or a not guilty verdict is returned (section 3155(d)).

Step 3: the bond

Before letters are granted, a personal representative executes and files a bond with sufficient surety in the amount the register considers necessary, having regard to the value of the personal estate that will come under his control (section 3171). Unless the court orders one or the will requires one, no bond is required of an individual who is named in the will as an original or successor personal representative and is a Pennsylvania resident, has been excused from a bond by the express direction of the will, or is a nonresident serving with a resident co-representative who holds all the assets; nor of a resident who is not named in the will but is the sole residuary legatee or next of kin, or the nominee of all adult residuary legatees or next of kin (section 3174(b)).

Step 4: advertising the grant of letters

Immediately after the grant of letters, the personal representative publishes notice of the grant, with his name and address, in one newspaper of general circulation published at or near the place where the decedent resided and in the legal periodical designated by rule of court, once a week for three successive weeks. The notice asks everyone with a claim against the estate to make it known to the representative or his attorney, and everyone who owes the decedent money to pay it without delay (section 3162(a)). The date of the first complete advertisement starts the clocks in sections 3501.1, 3531 and 3532 described below.

Step 5: the inventory

Every personal representative files with the register a verified inventory of all real and personal estate of the decedent, except real estate outside Pennsylvania, which is listed in a memorandum at the end without being counted in the total (section 3301(a) and (b)). The inventory states opposite each item its fair value as of the date of death (section 3302). It is due no later than the date the representative files his account or the due date, including any extension, of the inheritance tax return, whichever is earlier; any party in interest may demand it earlier in writing, in which case it is due within three months after the appointment or 30 days after the request, whichever is later, and the court may order it at any time (section 3301(c)).

The family exemption

The spouse of a decedent domiciled in Pennsylvania, or if there is no spouse the children who were members of the decedent's household, or if none the parents who were members of the household, may retain or claim as an exemption real or personal property, or both, not yet sold by the personal representative, to the value of $3,500; property specifically given by the will may not be claimed if other assets are available (section 3121). The representative delivers the items claimed at the values fixed by the inventory and appraisement, and the court may control the distribution and valuation on petition (section 3122). The spouse's rights guide covers the exemption alongside the elective share.

Claims and the one year rule

Written notice of a claim given to the personal representative or his attorney before the claim is barred tolls the statute of limitations, and suing the representative, substituting him as defendant, petitioning to compel an account, or receiving his written acknowledgment of the claim counts as written notice (section 3384). A claimant whose claim is not reported as admitted and who fails to present it at the call for audit or confirmation of the account receives no share of the property distributed under that audit (section 3386).

Section 3532 is the rule most families ask about. A personal representative, at his own risk and without filing an account, may distribute real or personal property, and that distribution is without liability to any claimant unless the claim was known to the representative within one year after the first complete advertisement of the grant of letters, or later but before the distribution (section 3532(a)). Personal property distributed that way is free of claims the representative did not know of within that year (section 3532(b)(1)). Real property conveyed in distribution is free of a claim unless the claimant filed a written notice of the claim with the clerk within one year after the decedent's death, and such a claim expires five years after the death unless the representative files an account or the claimant petitions to compel one (section 3532(b)(2)). Liens and charges that existed at death are not affected (section 3532(b)(3)). The representative may also send a written demand to a possible claimant to give notice within 60 days or within one year from the first complete advertisement, whichever is later, after which a silent claimant loses those rights (section 3532(b.1)).

Order of payment when the estate cannot pay everything

If the assets are insufficient, the representative pays, subject to any preference for claims due the United States, in this order: the costs of administration; the family exemption; the costs of the funeral and burial and of medicines, medical, nursing and hospital services, medical assistance services and employee services furnished within six months of death; the cost of a gravemarker; six months of rent for the decedent's residence; claims by the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions; and all other claims (section 3392).

Step 6: the account and distribution

The personal representative may file his account at any time after four months from the first complete advertisement of the original grant of letters, and may be cited to file one at any time after six months; the court may direct an account at any time (section 3501.1). In a county with a separate orphans' court division the account is examined and audited by the court without expense to the parties (section 3511); in other counties it is confirmed by the court or the clerk under local rules if no objections are presented within the time the court's rules fix (section 3512). No account is confirmed and no proposed distribution approved until an adjudication or decree of distribution is filed naming the persons to whom the balance is awarded and the share of each (section 3514). A representative who distributes under a decree of court or under rule of court after confirmation is relieved of liability for the property distributed (section 3533). Any party in interest may petition within five years after final confirmation to review the account or the decree for specifically alleged errors (section 3521).

When the gross real and personal estate does not exceed $50,000, the representative may, after one year from the first complete advertisement, petition the court with an annexed account showing the administration and the distribution made and proposed, and the court, on proof of notice to all known parties in interest, may approve the distribution and discharge the representative and his sureties without the expense of a formal account (section 3531).

Pennsylvania inheritance tax

The inventory deadline in section 3301(c) refers to the inheritance tax return because Pennsylvania taxes transfers at death under section 2116 of the Tax Reform Code of 1971. The rate is zero for a transfer to a husband or wife of a decedent dying on or after January 1, 1995, zero for a transfer to a child 21 or younger from a parent or stepparent, four and one-half percent for grandparents, parents, lineal descendants and the spouse or widow or widower of a child, twelve percent for a sibling, and fifteen percent for all other persons except those exempt under section 2111(m); where property passes to a husband and wife with right of survivorship, the lower rate applies to the entire interest (section 2116(a)).

What the Philadelphia Register of Wills charges and asks for

Fees are set county by county. The Philadelphia Register of Wills, for example, posts a fee schedule whose probate fees are stated as effective September 26, 2022 and scale with the probate value: the total probate fee listed is $386.25 for a value of $10,000.01 to $50,000, $491.25 for $50,000.01 to $200,000, and $1,331.25 for the first $1,000,000 plus $75 base fee and related charges for each additional $100,000; the schedule also lists $10 for each short certificate, $15 for each renunciation and $50 for a caveat. The office's probate page says the fees depend on the size of the estate, that the decedent must have been a Philadelphia resident or have held real property in Philadelphia without personal property in another state, and that the person named executor brings the original will, an original death certificate, an estimate of the estate's value and a valid current form of identification to the Probate Department in Room 180 of City Hall, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. except holidays, where the petition for probate and grant of letters testamentary is completed at the appointment. Other counties publish their own schedules; see the Philadelphia page for the county office.

What passes outside probate

Legal title to a decedent's personal estate passes at death to the personal representative, and legal title to real estate passes at death to the heirs or devisees, subject to the representative's powers and the court's orders (section 301). Several kinds of property never reach the representative. An employer may pay up to $10,000 of wages, salary or employee benefits, and a bank may pay a deposit of up to $20,000 against a receipted funeral bill or a funeral director's affidavit, directly to the spouse, a child, a parent or a sibling in that order of preference without letters (section 3101(a) and (b), the deposit figure as amended by Act 50 of 2025). Personal property with a gross value not exceeding $50,000 may be distributed by the orphans' court division on petition without letters (section 3102); the small estate guide covers both sections. Sums in a joint account belong to the surviving party as against the estate unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intent when the account was created (section 6304(a)). Securities registered in beneficiary form pass to the beneficiaries who survive the owner (section 6407). Property the owner moved into a revocable living trust during life is held by the trustee under the trust's terms; the settlor may revoke or amend the trust unless its terms expressly make it irrevocable (section 7752(a)), and the orphans' court division has jurisdiction over inter vivos trusts if a dispute arises (section 711(3)). The transfer on death deed guide explains that no Pennsylvania statute currently provides a transfer on death deed for real estate and what the alternatives are.

What a living trust changes

Property that was transferred into a living trust during life belongs to the trust, so it is not inventoried, advertised or accounted for by the personal representative. Property left outside the trust still goes through the steps above, which is why a Pennsylvania trust package includes a pour-over will and funding instructions. See the Pennsylvania living trust page for what the package includes and how it is signed.