Personal Property Memorandum Requirements in Pennsylvania

At a glance

Pennsylvania uses a fixed incorporation route

Pennsylvania's current Chapter 25 contains no special statute for a separate, freely updatable tangible-personal-property list. Pennsylvania decisions instead recognize the narrower common-law doctrine of incorporation by reference. Under Hogue's Estate, a valid will's reference makes an extrinsic writing part of the will only when the writing is clearly identified and already exists when the will is executed, or is made at the same time as part of the same transaction.

The separate writing does not independently have to satisfy will formalities. Sciutti Estate states that an extrinsic writing “having no validity in itself as a will” may nevertheless become part of a valid will by incorporation. The incorporating will itself remains subject to § 2502: it must be in writing and signed by the testator at the end, subject to that section's mark and directed- signature rules.

Because this is a general incorporation doctrine rather than a memorandum statute, these authorities state no separate tangible-property definition, excluded-asset list, value ceiling, handwriting condition, signature condition, date condition, or item-and-recipient “reasonable certainty” formula for the incorporated writing. The will must unmistakably identify the writing, and that writing's terms then operate as part of the will.

What trips people up

The incorporated writing is fixed to the will-execution transaction. A person cannot rely on the doctrine to fill out or replace the list later while leaving the old will untouched. Section 2505 states that a written will or codicil, or part of one, may be altered by another will or codicil, or by another writing executed and proved in the manner required of wills. A later revised list therefore needs a new will, codicil, or other will-formal route rather than the freely updatable mechanism that UPC-style statutes provide.

Common questions

Must the separate writing be signed and dated?

Not as an independent incorporation condition stated in these authorities. Sciutti Estate expressly distinguishes an extrinsic writing that is not itself a valid will from the valid will that incorporates it. Signing or dating may help identify a particular writing, but Pennsylvania's doctrine turns on a valid will, clear identification, and existence at the required time.

Can the will refer to a list that will be written later?

Not through this incorporation-by-reference route. Baker's Appeal requires the writing's existence at execution, and Hogue's Estate also recognizes a writing made simultaneously as part of the same transaction.

What happens in probate?

When the requirements are met, Hogue's Estate says the separate instruments are entitled to be probated as part of the will. Sciutti Estate refused the attempt there because the referring letter was not a valid testamentary instrument and did not adequately identify the unexecuted will offered with it.

Statutes and sources

• 20 Pa.C.S. Chapter 25 — complete current wills section index; it contains no personal-property-memorandum statute. Official Pennsylvania General Assembly: https://www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=20&div=0&chpt=25 (accessed 2026-08-11).
• 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502 — the incorporating will must be written and signed at the end, subject to the section's stated exceptions. Same official chapter URL (accessed 2026-08-11).
• 20 Pa.C.S. § 2505 — later alteration through a will, codicil, or other will-formal writing, plus the physical-act route. Same official chapter URL (accessed 2026-08-11).
• Hogue's Estate, 135 Pa. Super. 543, 6 A.2d 108 (1939) — clear identification, required existence, simultaneous-transaction rule, and probate-as-part-of-the-will effect. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4097391/ (accessed 2026-08-11).
• Sciutti Estate, 371 Pa. 536, 92 A.2d 188 (1952) — an extrinsic writing need not independently be a valid will, but the incorporating instrument must be a valid will. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2269419/ (accessed 2026-08-11).
• Baker's Appeal, 107 Pa. 381 (1885) — existence at execution, complete reference in the will, and certain identification. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/6369015/ (accessed 2026-08-11).