When a Pennsylvania resident dies without a valid will, the state decides who inherits. This is called dying "intestate," and the rules are set out in Pennsylvania's intestacy statutes, not by what the family thinks the deceased would have wanted. The outcome often surprises people: a surviving spouse rarely inherits everything automatically, and children, parents, and even siblings can end up with a share of the estate.
If you live in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Harrisburg, or anywhere else in the Commonwealth, here is exactly who inherits when there is no will, and how to make sure the state's default rules never apply to your estate.
What "intestate" means in Pennsylvania
Dying intestate means dying without a legally valid will. When that happens, only your "intestate estate" passes under the statute: that is, the probate property that would have gone through a will. Assets with their own beneficiary designation (life insurance, retirement accounts) or property held jointly with right of survivorship pass outside of intestacy and are not affected by these rules.
One point that trips people up: Pennsylvania is not a community property state. It follows the common-law "separate property" system, so there is no automatic 50/50 split of marital assets at death the way community property states handle it. Instead, whatever you owned in your own name is distributed according to the fixed shares below.1
Who inherits if you leave a surviving spouse
The single biggest misconception is that a surviving spouse takes the whole estate. That is only true in one situation. In every other case, the spouse shares with the deceased's children or parents. The exact split depends on who else survives you.2
| Your family situation | Surviving spouse receives | Others receive |
|---|---|---|
| No children (issue) and no surviving parents | The entire intestate estate | Nothing |
| No children, but one or both parents survive | First $30,000 plus one half of the balance | Parents split the rest |
| Children, all of whom are also the spouse's children | First $30,000 plus one half of the balance | Children split the other half |
| Children, one or more of whom are NOT the spouse's children | One half of the estate (no $30,000 allowance) | All children split the other half |
Notice the last row. If the deceased had a child from a previous relationship, the surviving spouse loses the $30,000 preferential allowance and takes only half. The children from every relationship then divide the remaining half equally.1
Example: Maria dies without a will in Pittsburgh, leaving her husband and two children, both of whom are also her husband's children. Her intestate estate is worth $230,000. Her husband takes the first $30,000, leaving $200,000. He then takes half of that ($100,000), and the two children split the remaining $100,000 ($50,000 each).
Who inherits if you leave no spouse
If there is no surviving spouse, the estate passes down a fixed order of relatives. Pennsylvania moves to the next group only when no one in the group above survives you.3
- Children and their descendants (issue). The estate is divided among your children equally. If a child died before you but left children of their own, that child's share passes to those grandchildren.
- Parents. If you leave no descendants, your surviving parent or parents inherit the entire estate.
- Siblings and their descendants. If no parents survive, the estate goes to your brothers and sisters, and to the children (your nieces and nephews) of any sibling who died before you.
- Grandparents, then aunts, uncles, and cousins. If none of the above survive, the estate moves up to grandparents and then out to their descendants.
If no relative can be found in any of these categories, the estate ultimately escheats to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In practice this is rare, but it is the reason distant cousins are sometimes tracked down during probate.2
A will does not let you cut out your spouse entirely
Intestacy is not the only place Pennsylvania protects a spouse. Even if you write a will that leaves your spouse nothing, Pennsylvania is not a forced-heirship state for children, but it does give a surviving spouse a statutory "elective share" of one third of certain property. A disinherited spouse can elect to take that one third instead of what the will provides.4
The elective share applies only when there is a will (or certain lifetime transfers). Under pure intestacy, the spouse already receives the statutory shares described above. The takeaway is the same either way: in Pennsylvania you cannot fully disinherit a spouse, but you have wide freedom to direct everything else, which is exactly what a will lets you do.
How to avoid the state's default rules: write a valid will
The intestacy scheme is a fallback, and you are free to override almost all of it with a valid will. Pennsylvania makes this genuinely easy. Under the state's will statute, a will simply must be in writing and signed by the testator at the end of the document.5
That "signed at the end" requirement is the single most important Pennsylvania-specific rule. Anything written below your signature is generally disregarded, so your signature must come after every gift and instruction you want to be effective. Pennsylvania also recognizes a wholly handwritten will (a holographic will), and no witnesses are required for the will to be valid. Two witnesses are needed later at probate to prove your signature, unless the will was made "self-proved," so a fully handwritten will is a legitimate and legally sound option in Pennsylvania.3
Template: minimal valid Pennsylvania will
Last Will and Testament
I, full name, of city, Pennsylvania, declare this to be my will.
I revoke all prior wills.
I give my entire estate to name, or if they do not survive me, to alternate.
I name name as executor.
Your signature, at the very end
Date
To get the shares, wording, and signature placement right without guesswork, see our step-by-step guide on how to write a will in Pennsylvania, or create a Pennsylvania-specific will now with our guided will builder. Either way, deciding for yourself beats leaving the state's intestacy formula to decide for you.
Sources
- 120 Pa.C.S. § 2102: Share of surviving spouse (Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes) (law.justia.com)
- 2Intestate Descent in Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Register of Wills (phila.gov)
- 3Intestate Succession in Pennsylvania: Who Inherits When There's No Will? (Nolo) (nolo.com)
- 420 Pa.C.S. § 2203: Right of election; resident decedent (FindLaw) (codes.findlaw.com)
- 520 Pa.C.S. § 2502: Form and execution of a will (FindLaw) (codes.findlaw.com)
About the author
Max Kuch
Max Kuch writes about estate planning, wills and inheritance for Pennsylvania Will Template. He gathers the rules from the Pennsylvania statutes and the leading public data, then explains them in plain, accessible language so anyone can put their wishes in writing.