§ 2501. Who may make a will.
§ 2502. Form and execution of a will.
§§ 2503-2504. [Repealed].
§ 2504.1.Validity of execution.
§ 2505. Revocation of a will.
§ 2506. Revival of revoked or invalid will.
§ 2507. Modification by circumstances.
§ § 2508-2513. [Repealed].
§ 2514. Rules of Interpretation.
§ 2515. Devise or bequest to trust.
§ 2516. Devise in fee tail abolished.
§ 2517. Rule in Shelley's case and doctrine of worthier title.
§ 2518. Alienage.
§ 2519. Testamentary guardian.
§ 2520. [Repealed].
§ 2521. Penalty clause for contest.
Any person 18 or more years of age who is of sound mind may make a will.
Every will shall be in writing and shall be signed by the testator at the end thereof, subject to the following rules and exceptions:
A will is validly executed if executed in compliance with section 2502 (relating to form and execution of a will), or in compliance with the law of the jurisdiction where the testator was domiciled at the time of the execution of the will or at the time of his death.
No will or codicil in writing, or any part thereof, can be revoked or altered otherwise than:
If, after the making of any will, the testator shall execute a later will which expressly or by necessary implication revokes the earlier will, the revocation of the later will shall not revive the earlier will, unless the revocation is in writing and declares the intention of the testator to revive the earlier will, or unless, after such revocation, the earlier will shall be reexecuted. Oral republication of itself shall be ineffective to revive a will.
Wills shall be modified upon the occurrence of any of the following circumstances among others:
In the absence of a contrary intent appearing therein, wills shall be construed as to real and personal estate in accordance with the following rules:
(1) [Repealed.]
(1.1) Construction that will passes all property.-A will shall be construed to apply to all property which the testator owned at his death, including property acquired after the execution of his will.
(2) [Repealed.]
(3) Devise of real estate.-All devises of real estate shall pass the whole estate of the testator in the premises devised, although there be no words of inheritance or of perpetuity.
(4) Meaning of "heirs" and "next of kin," etc; time of ascertaining class.- A devise or bequest of real or personal estate, whether directly or in trust, to the testator's or another designated person's "heirs" or "next of kin" or "relatives" or "family" or to "the persons thereunto entitled under the intestate laws" or to persons described by words of similar import, shall mean those persons, including the spouse, who would take under the intestate laws if the testator or other designated person were to die intestate at the time when such class is to be ascertained, a resident of the Commonwealth, and owning the estate so devised or bequeathed: Provided, however, That the share of a spouse, other than the spouse of the testator, shall not include the allowance under the intestate laws. The time when such class is to be ascertained shall be the time when the devise or bequest is to take effect in enjoyment.
(5) Time for ascertaining class.- In construing a devise or bequest to a class other than a class described in section 2514(4), the class shall be ascertained at the time the devise or bequest is to take effect in enjoyment, except that the issue then living of any member of the class who is then dead shall take per stirpes the share which their deceased ancestor would have taken if he had then been living.
(6) Meaning of "die without issue" and similar phrases.- In any devise or bequest of real or personal estate, the words "die without issue," "die without leaving issue," "have no issue," or other words importing either a want or failure of issue of any person in his lifetime or at the time of his death, or an indefinite failure of his issue, shall be construed to mean a want or failure of issue in his lifetime or at his death, and not an indefinite failure of his issue.
(7) Adopted children.-In construing paragraphs (9), (10) and (11) of this section, relating to lapsed and void devises and legacies, and in construing a will making a devise or bequest to a person or persons described by relationship to the testator or to another, any adopted person shall be considered the child of his adopting parent or parents, except that, in construing the will of a testator who is not the adopting parent, an adopted person shall not be considered the child of his adopting parent or parents unless the adoption occurred during the adopted person's minority or reflected an earlier parent-child relationship that existed during the child's minority. An adopted person who is considered the child of his adopting parent or parents under this paragraph shall not be considered as continuing to be the child of his natural parent, who has maintained a family relationship with the adopted person. If a natural parent shall have married the adopting parent, the adopted person shall also be considered the child of such natural parent.
(8) Persons born our of wedlock.-In construing paragraphs (9), (10) and (11), relating to lapsed and void devises and legacies, and in construing a will making a devise or bequest to a person or persons described by relationship to the testator or to another, a person born out of wedlock shall be considered the child of the natural mother and also of the natural father if paternity of the natural father has been determined pursuant to the provisions of section 2107 (relating to persons born out of wedlock).
(9) Lapsed and void devises and legacies; substitution of issue.- A devise or bequest to a child or other issue of the testator or to his brother or sister or to a child of his brother or sister whether designated by name or as one of a class shall not lapse if the beneficiary shall fail to survive the testator and shall leave issue surviving the testator but shall pass to such surviving issue who shall take per stirpes the share which their deceased ancestor would have taken had he survived the testator: Provided, That such a devise or bequest to a brother or sister or to the child of a brother or sister shall lapse to the extent to which it will pass to the testator's spouse or issue as a part of the residuary estate or under the intestate laws.
(10) Lapsed and void devises and legacies; shares not in residue.- A devise or bequest not being part of the residuary estate which shall fail or be void because the beneficiary fails to survive the testator or because it is contrary to law or otherwise incapable of taking effect or which has been revoked by the testator or is undisposed of or is released or disclaimed by the beneficiary, if it shall not pass to the issue of the beneficiary under the provisions of clause (9) hereof, and if the disposition thereof shall not be otherwise expressly provided for by law, shall be included in the residuary devise or bequest, if any, contained in the will.
(11) Lapsed and void devises and legacies; shares in residue.- When a devise or bequest as described in clause (10) hereof shall be included in a residuary clause of the will and shall not be available to the issue of the devisee or legatee under the provisions of clause (9) hereof, and if the disposition shall not be otherwise expressly provided for by law, it shall pass to the other residuary devisees or legatees, if any there be, in proportion to their respective shares or interests in the residue.
(12) [Repealed.]
(12.1) Property subject to a security interest.-A specific devise or bequest of real or personal property passes that property subject to any security interest therein existing at the date of the testator's death, without any right of exoneration out of any other estate of the testator regardless whether the security interest was created by the testator or by a previous owner and any general directive in the will to pay debts.
(13) Power of appointment. A general devise of the real estate of the testator, or of the real estate of the testator in any place, or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his will or otherwise described in a general manner, shall be construed to include any real estate, or any real estate to which such description shall extend, as the case may be, which he shall have power to appoint in any manner he shall think proper, and shall operate as an execution of such power. In like manner, a bequest of the personal estate of the testator, or any bequest of personal property described in a general manner, shall be construed to include any personal estate, or any personal estate to which such description shall extend, as the case may be, which he shall have power to appoint in any manner he shall think proper, and shall operate as an execution of such power. In like manner, a general pecuniary legacy, when the assets of the individual estate of the testator are not sufficient for its payment of the legacy, be construed to include any estate which the testator shall have power to appoint in any manner he shall think proper, and shall to such extent operate as an execution of such power.
(14) Cemetery lot.- If in a will no express disposition or other mention is made of a cemetery lot owned by the testator at his decease and wherein he or any member of his family is buried, the ownership of the lot shall not pass from his lawful heirs by a residuary or other general clause of the will but shall descend to his heirs as if he had died intestate.
(15) Inheritance tax.- The inheritance tax imposed by the Inheritance and Estate Tax Act of 1961 upon the transfer of real or personal property which passes by will absolutely and in fee, and which is not part of the residuary estate, shall be paid out of the residuary estate and charged in the same manner as a general administration expense. Such inheritance tax imposed upon the transfer of any estate, income or interest for a term of years, for life or for other limited period, shall be paid out of the principal of the property by which the estate income or interest is supported.
(16) [Deleted by amendment.]
(16.1) Nonademption; incapacity.-If property of an adjudicated incapacitated person specifically devised or bequeathed is sold or exchanged or if a condemnation award or insurance proceeds are paid to the estate of an incapacitated person as a result of condemnation, fire or casualty, the specific legatee or devisee has the right to the net sale price, the property received in exchange, the condemnation award or the insurance proceeds. This paragraph does not apply if subsequent to the sale, exchange, condemnation, or casualty, the testator has been adjudicated not to be an incapacitated person and survives the adjudication by one year.
(16.2) Nonademption; attorney-in-fact.-If an attorney-in-fact, during the time that his principal is an incapacitated person within the meaning of section 5501 (relating to meaning of incapacitated person), sells or exchanges property of the principal which is specifically devised or bequeathed, the specific legatee or devisee has the right to the net sale price or the property received in exchange. For the purposes of this paragraph, a sale or exchange of property made by an attorney-in-fact shall be deemed to have been made during the time that the principal is an incapacitated person, unless shown to the contrary. This paragraph does not apply if it is shown that for a period of at least one year subsequent to the sale or exchange the principal was not an incapacitated person within the meaning of section 5501.
(17) Change in securities.-If the testator intended a specific bequest of securities owned by him at the time of the execution of his will, rather than the equivalent value thereof, the legatee is entitled only to:
(18) Nonademption; balance.-A devisee or legatee of property specifically devised or bequeathed has the right to any of that property which the testator still owned at his death and:
(19) Employee benefits.-Benefits received by a trust under a Federally qualified profit sharing, pension or stock bonus plan shall not be available for the payment of obligations of the decedent or of his estate.
(20) Corporate fiduciaries.-Provisions authorizing or restricting investment in the securities or common trust funds of a corporate fiduciary or the exercise of voting rights in its securities shall also apply to the securities or common trust funds of any corporation which is an affiliate of the corporate fiduciary within the meaning of section 1504 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Public Law 99-514, 26 U.S.C. § 1504).
A devise or bequest in a will may be made to the trustee of a trust, including any unfunded trust, established in writing by the testator or any other person before, concurrently with or after the execution of the will. Such devise or bequest shall not be invalid because the trust is amendable or revocable, or both, or because the trust was amended after execution of the will. Unless the will provides otherwise, the property so devised or bequeathed shall not be deemed held under a testamentary trust of the testator but shall become and be a part of the principal of the trust to which it is given to be administered and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the instrument establishing that trust and any amendment thereof. An entire revocation of the trust prior to the testator's death shall invalidate the devise or bequest unless the will directs otherwise.
Whenever by any devise an estate in fee tail would be created according to the common law of the Commonwealth, it shall pass an estate in fee simple, and as such shall be inheritable and freely alienable.
(a) Rule in Shelley's case.-The rule in Shelley's case and its corollaries shall not be applied, and a devise or bequest directly or in trust which shall express an intent to create an estate for life with remainder to the life tenant's heirs or the heirs of his body or his issue or his next of kin or persons described by words of similar import shall not operate to give such life tenant an estate in fee in real estate or an absolute estate in personalty.
(b) Doctrine of worthier title.-The doctrine of worthier title shall not be applied as a rule of law or as a rule of construction. Language in a governing instrument describing the beneficiaries of a disposition as to the transferor's heirs, heirs at law, next of kin, distributees, relatives or family or language of similar import shall not create or presumptively create a reversionary interest in the transferor.
Real and personal estate shall pass without regard to whether the testator or any devisee or legatee is or has been an alien.
(a) Guardian of the person.-A person competent to make a will, being the sole surviving parent or adopting parent of any unmarried minor child, may appoint a testamentary guardian of the person of such child during his minority, or for any shorter period except that no parent who, for one year or upwards previous to his death, shall have willfully neglected or refused to provide for his child, or who, for a like period, shall have deserted the child or wilfully failed to perform parental duties, shall have the right to appoint a testamentary guardian of the person of such child.
(b) Guardian of the estate.-Any person may by will appoint a guardian of real or personal property passing to a minor upon his death, when such property:
A provision in a will or trust purporting to penalize an interested person for contesting the will or trust or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate or trust is unenforceable if probable cause exists for instituting proceedings.
The complete Pennsylvania Statutes are not yet available on the web. However, selected portions have been made available and can be accessed by CLICKING HERE. These statutes, though available instantaneously over the web, may not be the current law. Court decisions overturning them, later statutes amending them, and a host of other factors come into play when interpreting them. They are provided here as a resource. They should provide some information about the state of the law. However, a competent lawyer, who from other sources will research the law to insure what is current, should always be employed in matters of importance.