Will requirements in Pennsylvania

Who can make a will in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania asks two things of you: that you are at least 18, and that you are of sound mind when you sign. Sound mind is a practical standard, not a medical one: you understand what you own, who your family is, and what your will does with it.

Signing your will in Pennsylvania

1. 1You sign

   You sign your will at the end of the document, or direct someone else to sign it for you while you are present and aware of what is happening.

2. 2Two witnesses sign

   Two witnesses sign in your presence. Choose adults who inherit nothing under the will, so no gift can later be questioned.

3. 3The affidavit

   Optional but common: the self-proving affidavit. You and your witnesses sign it before a notary, and a Pennsylvania court can later accept the will without tracking down anyone who was in the room.

Handwritten and electronic wills

Pennsylvania recognizes a holographic will: one written and signed entirely in your own hand. It is legal here, and it is also the kind of document a court has to work harder to verify later, since there is no one in the room to describe what happened. Pennsylvania has not authorized electronic wills; the document that reaches probate is paper. That is exactly how Myend’s Last Will works everywhere: you build the will online, then print and sign it with your witnesses, on paper, the form every state accepts.

Property and your spouse

Pennsylvania is a common-law property state: what you hold in your own name is yours to leave as you choose. But the law will not let a will erase a spouse entirely. A surviving spouse can claim an elective share of one third of the estate, even if the will says otherwise. Your spouse has to actively make this election after you die; it does not happen on its own, but the option stands no matter what your will provides.

Your executor

Pennsylvania calls the person who carries out your will the executor. You can name almost any capable adult, in state or out. The real condition is not about geography: Pennsylvania asks that whoever serves be a United States citizen or resident, a qualification most people meet without a second thought. New to the role? Start with what an executor actually does.

If someone challenges the will

Pennsylvania enforces no-contest clauses, but not without limit. A clause meant to disinherit anyone who challenges your will and loses does not reach a challenge brought with probable cause, a genuine, good-faith basis for questioning it. Pennsylvania lets you discourage frivolous attacks without punishing an honest question.

If you do not make a will

Without a will, Pennsylvania’s intestacy statute steps in and assigns your estate to relatives in a set order, regardless of what you actually wanted. For blended families, unmarried partners, and close friends, that default order rarely matches real life. A valid will is how you replace the state’s formula with your own words. See what happens if you die without a will.

What is different about Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania trusts your handwriting the way older common-law states do, and protects a spouse by counting nearly everything you owned, not just what your will controls.

Pennsylvania is one of twenty-seven states that still recognizes a will written and signed entirely in your own hand, a rule that predates the state’s modern probate code. It is a forgiving option, useful when nothing else is on hand, though a court still has to be satisfied later that the handwriting truly is yours, the exact kind of question two witnesses at signing are meant to settle in advance.

The more distinctive rule sits with married couples. Pennsylvania protects a surviving spouse with an elective share of one third, and measures that third against the augmented estate, a wider figure than just the property that passes through the will. Certain trusts set up during the marriage, and lifetime transfers you kept some control over, can be counted back in. A will alone cannot write a spouse out of that protection.

Common questions

Sources and review