Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in Pennsylvania

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Register and county

Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 901, the elected or appointed Register of Wills has initial jurisdiction over probate and letters. Section 3131 sends a domiciliary will to the register in the county of the decedent's last family or principal residence; a nondomiciliary will may be probated where estate property is located. Section 3151 applies the parallel county rule to the grant of letters.

Who may offer the will and receive letters

The code does not identify one exclusive class of will proponents. Section 3133 says a will may be offered for probate at any time, and § 3137 allows any party in interest to force a person controlling the will to deposit it with the register. Appointment is narrower: § 3155 directs letters testamentary to the executor designated in the will.

Sworn petition for letters

When letters are requested with probate, 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3151-3153 govern county, the 21-year limit, and petition content. Section 3153 requires the petition under oath to identify the decedent, domicile and last residence, and place and date of death; disclose whether statutory post-will circumstances modified the will; give the applicable estimates and locations for personal and Pennsylvania real property; name and address every proposed representative; and state any other facts establishing entitlement to letters.

Filed will and copy route

Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 921, a probated will is indexed, recorded, and kept in the register's office. The paired rules in 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3136-3137 supply the citation-and-deposit remedy when someone else controls it and the express copy route: a duly authenticated copy of a will already proved outside Pennsylvania may be offered and may support letters as if the original had been offered locally.

Time limits that point in different directions

Section 3133 says a will may be offered at any time. But waiting more than one year creates a real-estate risk: the will is void against a bona fide grantee or lienholder whose conveyance or lien was recorded before the will was offered. Separately, § 3152 bars the grant of letters after 21 years unless the court orders otherwise for cause shown.

Proof and self-proof

Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3132, two competent witnesses prove every will, with subscribing-witness and signature-proof preferences that depend on how the will was signed. A mark-or-another-person signature ordinarily requires subscribing witnesses unless reasonable diligence cannot produce that proof. Section 3132.1 accepts a conforming self-proving affidavit as probate proof, but not when will validity is contested or the will was signed by mark or by another person.

Caveat, dispute, and appeal

The cited statutes do not impose a universal pre-probate notice or court-hearing step. The caveat, certification, and appeal rules are 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 906-908. A caveat instead stops routine action. Under § 906, it is abandoned unless the caveator posts the register-set $500-to-$5,000 bond within 10 days, absent an extension for cause. Section 907 allows the register—or the court on an interested party's petition—to send the whole disputed record to court. Section 908 ordinarily gives an interested, aggrieved party one year to appeal the register's decree, but the court may shorten that period to three months.

Executor, oath, bond, and letters

Sections 3155-3156 direct letters to the named executor but bar a person under 18, an unauthorized corporation, specified unfit nominees, and a person facing the listed homicide charge connected to the decedent's death. Section 3161 requires the representative's administration oath before letters.

The oath and bond provisions are 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3161, 3171, and 3174. Section 3171 states the bond default. Section 3174 then removes bond, unless the will or court requires it, for listed corporate fiduciaries and qualifying individuals—including a Pennsylvania-resident executor named in the will and the section's specified nonresident co-representative arrangement.

What trips people up

“Any time” in § 3133 does not mean delay is harmless. A will offered more than one year after death can be ineffective against a bona fide grantee or lienholder who recorded first, and a 21-year delay changes the letters request into a court-order-for-cause matter.

Self-proof is also conditional. A § 3132.1 affidavit does not supply the normal shortcut when validity is contested or when the will was signed by mark or by another person for the testator.

Common questions

Does probate start in Orphans' Court?

Ordinarily no. The Register of Wills acts first under § 901. A caveat or dispute may be certified to the court under § 907, and an aggrieved interested party may appeal the register's decree under § 908.

Must every named executor receive letters?

No. Section 3155 identifies the will's designated executor as the person entitled to letters, but §§ 3155-3156 and 3161 still require freedom from the listed disqualifications and completion of the oath and other qualification steps.

Can an out-of-state probated will be filed by copy?

Yes. Section 3136 permits a duly authenticated copy of a will proved outside Pennsylvania to be offered before a register with jurisdiction and to support appropriate letters.

Statutes and sources

• 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 901, 903, 906-908, 921 — register jurisdiction and evidence powers, caveat, certification, appeal, and retention of probated wills. https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/20/00.009..HTM (accessed 2026-08-03)
• 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3131-3133, 3136-3137 — probate county, proof, self-proof, timing, authenticated foreign copy, and compelled deposit. https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/20/00.031..HTM (accessed 2026-08-03)
• 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3151-3156, 3161, 3171, 3174 — letters county and 21-year limit, sworn petition contents, executor entitlement and qualification, oath, bond, and exemptions. https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/20/00.031..HTM (accessed 2026-08-03)