Estate Planning · Wills and Probate

Wills in Pennsylvania: Requirements, Types, and How They Work

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A will is the foundational document of any estate plan. It directs who receives your property, names the executor who will carry out those directions, and — if you have minor children — designates a guardian. Without a will, Pennsylvania’s intestacy laws control who inherits, and the result may bear no resemblance to what you would have chosen. A surviving spouse who expected to inherit everything may find that the estate must be divided with adult children from a prior relationship. An unmarried partner receives nothing regardless of the length of the relationship. Charitable intentions go unfulfilled entirely.

Pennsylvania’s requirements for a valid will are straightforward, but the consequences of getting them wrong — or of dying without one — are not. Understanding what makes a will valid, what it controls, and how it is challenged is the starting point for anyone considering their estate plan. For broader guidance on estate planning documents, see our page on Estate Planning and Probate.

At Lebovitz & Lebovitz, P.A., we assist clients throughout Allegheny County with wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and complete estate planning. We draft documents that reflect each client’s intentions precisely, execute them correctly, and coordinate them with the rest of the estate plan.

Pennsylvania Requirements for a Valid Will

Under Pennsylvania’s Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, a valid will must be in writing and signed by the testator — the person making the will. Pennsylvania does not recognize oral wills or electronic wills. The will must be signed at the end of the document. If the testator cannot physically sign, the will may be signed by another person at the testator’s direction, in the testator’s presence, and in the presence of two witnesses who sign a statement confirming they witnessed the directed signature.

In Pennsylvania, a will does not technically require witnesses to be valid if the testator signs the document. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502, the only formal requirements are that the will be in writing and signed by the testator. However, a will without witnesses can create significant problems during probate. The Register of Wills may require proof that the signature is authentic — through testimony from someone familiar with the testator’s handwriting, affidavits, or in some cases a hearing. For that reason, Pennsylvania wills are almost always executed in the presence of two witnesses, and should include a self-proving affidavit — a notarized statement signed by the testator and the witnesses at the time of execution. A will with a self-proving affidavit is admitted to probate without additional testimony. Notarization of the will document itself is not required — only the affidavit is notarized.

The testator must have testamentary capacity at the time of execution — meaning they must be at least eighteen years old, understand the nature and extent of their property, know the natural objects of their bounty (family members and others they would naturally consider), understand the nature of making a will, and be able to form an orderly plan for the distribution of their estate.

Types of Wills in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania recognizes several types of wills, though not all are equally reliable in practice.

A typewritten or printed will, properly signed and executed with a self-proving affidavit, is the standard form used in attorney-prepared estate plans. It is the most reliable type and the least susceptible to challenge.

A holographic will is a will entirely handwritten and signed by the testator. Pennsylvania law does not void a holographic will on its face — a signed handwritten document can be admitted to probate — but it is the form of will most likely to generate problems. There are no witnesses to confirm the circumstances of execution, no one to testify about the testator’s capacity or the absence of undue influence, and no self-proving affidavit to streamline probate. Disputes over whether the handwriting is authentic, whether the testator had capacity, and whether someone exerted improper influence are substantially more common with holographic wills precisely because nothing was done at execution to prevent them. A handwritten will is a last resort when no other option exists — not a planning choice.

A codicil is an amendment to an existing will. It must meet the same execution requirements as a will. When a testator wants to make a limited change — updating a bequest, changing an executor — a codicil can accomplish that without drafting an entirely new will. However, when changes are substantial or the existing will is old, replacing the entire document is usually cleaner and reduces the risk of conflicts between the will and the codicil.

Pennsylvania does not currently recognize electronic wills. The will must be a physical, paper document signed in ink.

What a Will Controls — and What It Does Not

A will controls the distribution of assets that pass through the probate estate — property owned solely in the testator’s name without a beneficiary designation. A will does not control assets that pass outside of probate by operation of law or by contract. Life insurance payable to a named beneficiary, retirement accounts with designated beneficiaries, jointly owned property with right of survivorship, and accounts with payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designations all pass according to those designations regardless of what the will says.

This distinction matters significantly. A testator who leaves everything to a spouse in the will but has named a child from a prior relationship as the beneficiary on a life insurance policy will find that the life insurance goes to the child — not the spouse — regardless of the will’s language. Coordinating beneficiary designations with the estate plan is as important as the will itself. For guidance on how TOD and POD accounts interact with a will, see our article on TOD, POD, and joint accounts in Pennsylvania.

A will can also name a guardian for minor children. For parents of young children, this is often the most important function of the will. Without a named guardian, the court appoints one — a process that can be contested and that removes the parents’ ability to direct who will raise their children.

Dying Without a Will in Pennsylvania — Intestate Succession

A person who dies without a valid will dies intestate. Pennsylvania’s intestacy statute determines who inherits and in what shares. The results are fixed by statute and do not bend to what the decedent would have wanted.

If the decedent is survived by a spouse and no children and no parents, the spouse inherits the entire estate. If the decedent is survived by a spouse and children who are also children of that spouse, the spouse receives the first $30,000 plus one-half of the remaining estate — the children share the other half. If the decedent is survived by a spouse and children from a prior relationship, the spouse receives one-half of the estate with no $30,000 preference — the prior children share the other half. If the decedent is survived by a spouse and a parent but no children, the spouse receives the first $30,000 plus one-half of the remaining estate. An unmarried partner — regardless of the length or nature of the relationship — receives nothing under Pennsylvania’s intestacy laws.

For a complete breakdown of Pennsylvania’s intestacy rules including blended families, stepchildren, and the treatment of unmarried partners, see our page on intestate succession in Pennsylvania.

How to Contest a Will in Pennsylvania

A will may be challenged on several grounds. The most common are lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence. Lack of capacity means the testator did not meet the legal standard at the time of execution — not simply that they were elderly or suffering from dementia, but that at the specific moment of signing they could not form the mental elements required. A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease does not automatically establish lack of capacity; a person may have lucid intervals during which a validly executed will is entirely proper.

Undue influence means that a person in a position of trust or authority over the testator overcame the testator’s free will and substituted their own wishes for the testator’s. Undue influence is distinct from ordinary persuasion or the natural influence of a close relationship — it requires that the testator’s independent judgment was overwhelmed. Evidence of isolation from other family members, dependence on the beneficiary, and a will that departs sharply from the testator’s prior expressed intentions are typical indicators.

A will contest must be filed in the Register of Wills in the county where the will was probated. The deadline to file a caveat — a formal objection — is generally one year from the date of probate, though the timeline for a full challenge may vary depending on the circumstances and the discovery of the grounds for challenge.

Online Wills and DIY Wills in Pennsylvania

Online will services produce documents that may or may not be valid in Pennsylvania — and that may or may not accomplish what the person filling out the form actually intended. The most common problems are not the questions the form asks. They are the questions it does not ask: whether beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance conflict with the will’s provisions, whether jointly owned property passes by survivorship regardless of what the will says, whether a named executor is actually capable of serving, whether a guardian designation has a backup appointment, and whether the execution instructions were followed precisely enough to produce a self-proving will. An execution error on a DIY will does not announce itself. The document looks complete. The problem surfaces at probate, after the testator is gone and nothing can be fixed.

A will is not expensive to have drafted correctly. The problems with a defective document surface at probate, after the testator is gone and nothing can be corrected. Having it done properly from the start is the only reliable option.

Changing or Revoking a Will in Pennsylvania

A will can be changed or revoked at any time while the testator is alive and competent. The most common method of change is a codicil — a formal written amendment that modifies specific provisions without replacing the entire document. A codicil must be executed with the same formalities as the original will. For substantial changes, drafting a new will that expressly revokes all prior wills is typically cleaner and avoids the interpretive problems that can arise when a will and one or more codicils must be read together.

A will is revoked by a later will or codicil that expressly revokes it, or by a later will whose provisions are inconsistent with the earlier will to the extent of the inconsistency. Pennsylvania also recognizes revocation by physical act — burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying the will with the intent to revoke it. The intent to revoke must accompany the physical act. A will that is accidentally destroyed is not revoked. A will that is found mutilated or partially destroyed after the testator’s death may raise a presumption of intentional revocation, which the proponent of the will must overcome.

Marriage and divorce both affect an existing will under Pennsylvania law. Property left to a former spouse in a will executed before divorce is treated as if the former spouse predeceased the testator — the bequest lapses. A will should be reviewed and updated after any significant life event, including marriage, divorce, the birth or death of a beneficiary, or a substantial change in assets.

Storing Your Will and What Happens If It Is Lost

The original signed will is what gets filed with the Register of Wills at probate. A photocopy or scanned version does not suffice — Pennsylvania requires the original document. A will that cannot be located when the testator dies creates immediate and serious problems for the estate.

Under Pennsylvania law, a will that was last known to be in the testator’s possession and cannot be found after death is presumed to have been destroyed with the intent to revoke it. That presumption can be overcome, but the burden is high — clear and convincing evidence that the will existed, that its contents can be established, and that it was not destroyed intentionally. Petitioning to probate a lost will is expensive, time-consuming, and frequently contested by beneficiaries who stand to benefit from intestacy. The outcome is uncertain even with strong evidence.

The original will should be kept somewhere the executor can find it and retrieve it without difficulty. A safe deposit box creates its own problem — access is typically restricted after the box holder’s death until the estate is formally opened, which requires the very document that is locked inside. An attorney’s office, a fireproof home safe, or the Register of Wills vault — Allegheny County offers secure will storage — are better options. Whatever the location, the executor must know where the original is before it is needed. A will that exists but cannot be retrieved in time is nearly as problematic as a will that was never executed.