How to make a will in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania does not require witnesses to sign a will. What it does require, why the self-proving affidavit matters anyway, and the clauses that keep an estate out of trouble.
Pennsylvania estate planning guides
Estate planning content online is mostly written for California and quietly assumed to apply everywhere. These guides are written against the Pennsylvania and New Jersey statutes - with the section numbers, the actual rates, and the deadlines that carry penalties.
Looking for one document rather than a guide? Every Airlooms document has its own page - what it does, what it costs, and how it is signed in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. See every document.
Pennsylvania inheritance tax
No exemption threshold, and the rate depends on who inherits: 0% spouse, 4.5% children, 12% siblings, 15% everyone else. Deadlines and the 5% early-payment discount.
Dying without a will in Pennsylvania
Your spouse rarely inherits everything. The first $30,000 rule, what changes with children from a prior relationship, and the full order of succession.
Pennsylvania power of attorney
Financial POAs need two witnesses, a notary, the statutory notice, and a signed agent acknowledgment. Healthcare POAs follow different rules. Why banks reject them.
Will vs. living trust in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania probate is cheaper than California's, which changes the calculation. A trust avoids probate - it does not avoid inheritance tax. When it is genuinely worth it.
Executor duties in Pennsylvania
A sequenced checklist: the Register of Wills, advertising the grant of letters, the Rule 10.5 certification, the nine-month tax deadline, and the mistakes that create personal liability.
Do you need a lawyer to write a will?
No - but some situations genuinely warrant one, and we say which. Plus the omissions that actually sink do-it-yourself wills.
Do I need a will after buying a house?
No law requires one, but the deed decides first, the will second, and 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 2102 and 2103 decide if you have neither. What that means for spouses, children, and unmarried co-buyers.
Put your house in a living trust in Pennsylvania
Signing the trust does nothing until a deed is recorded. The realty transfer tax exclusion, the Statement of Value, the mortgage rule, and what the trust does not change.
Deed into trust in New Jersey
A no-consideration deed to your own trust is exempt from the Realty Transfer Fee with the RTF-1 affidavit. Recording requirements, the Surrogate's Court, and what inheritance tax still reaches.
Beneficiary designations after buying a home
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and POD or TOD accounts pass by their forms, not your will. Why the deed, the will, and the forms must agree, with a free checklist.
Build your plan in plain English
Answer plain questions, see your plan take shape, and get the signing instructions for your state. Nothing is final until you sign.