Pennsylvania: Affidavit of Surviving Joint Tenant Title-Clearance Requirements

Requirements one by one

Certificate first, affidavit only when unavailable

Pennsylvania's route sits in 20 Pa.C.S. § 925. It applies where administering the
estate through granted letters is unnecessary but someone wants a public record of
the death. That structure fits valid survivorship property, but the section is not
limited to joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety and does not decide whether the
creating deed actually supplied survivorship.

The ordinary filing is a certificate of death. The affidavit is expressly
secondary: only “where a certificate of death cannot be obtained” may a relative
or other interested party file it. That condition prevents treating a convenient
affidavit as an interchangeable substitute for available official death evidence.

Signer, facts, and execution

The certificate clause names no special filer. For the fallback, § 925 permits a
relative or “other interested party.” Its required contents are closed and
specific: the decedent's name, residence, date of death, time of death, place of
death, and age at death.

The section calls the fallback an affidavit. Under 1 Pa.C.S. § 1991, that means a
written factual statement signed by its maker, sworn or affirmed before an officer
authorized to take deed acknowledgments or administer oaths (or the specifically
designated person), and officially certified under the officer's seal where
applicable. Section 925 adds no witness count, personal-knowledge recital, property
description, acknowledgment form, or survivor-only signature rule.

Office, timing, companions, and effect

Both instruments are filed “with the register,” meaning the county Register of
Wills office administering this Chapter 9 record. Section 925 states no filing
deadline. It also names no companion inheritance-tax return, Recorder of Deeds
filing, parcel report, or ownership-update form.

The statutory effect is exactly what the opening clause promises: a public record
of death. The register must index and record every filed certificate and affidavit.
Section 925 does not call the record a conveyance, supply constructive land-record
notice, or state that it proves survivorship title conclusively.

What trips people up

The two instruments are alternatives. A certificate is the ordinary filing.
The affidavit is not an extra attachment; it is the fallback when the certificate
cannot be obtained.

The filing office is the register, not the land recorder. Section 925 creates
a Register of Wills public death record. It does not direct recording with the
Recorder of Deeds or say that the filing enters the parcel's chain of title.

The effect is narrower than title clearance. The register indexes and records
death evidence. The statute does not declare who owns the property, validate the
survivorship language, resolve severance, or make the facts conclusive in a title
dispute.

Common questions

May the survivor choose an affidavit instead of obtaining a certificate? Not
under § 925. The affidavit is available “where a certificate of death cannot be
obtained.”

Must the survivor personally sign the affidavit? No. A relative or another
interested party may act. The person still must satisfy § 1991's signed,
sworn-or-affirmed affidavit form.

Does the affidavit need a legal description? Section 925's six-item list does
not include property, a parcel number, a deed reference, or the surviving owner's
name.

Does this filing replace probate when probate is otherwise needed? No. The
section starts only where it is not necessary to have estate letters granted.

Statutes and sources

• 20 Pa.C.S. § 925 — death-certificate route, conditional affidavit, six facts,
  register filing, indexing, and record.
  https://www.legis.state.pa.us/wu01/li/li/ct/htm/20/20.htm
• 1 Pa.C.S. § 1991 — general statutory definition and execution of an affidavit.
  https://www.legis.state.pa.us/wu01/li/li/ct/htm/01/01.htm

Both sources accessed 2026-08-02.