Executor Duties in Pennsylvania

Being named executor is a job, not an honour. It is largely administrative, it typically runs a year or more, and doing it in the wrong order can leave you personally liable.

Last reviewed 5 August 2026 · Pennsylvania · ~9 min read

First two weeks

Before anything legal happens, take care of the immediate practicalities:

• Order 10 to 15 certified death certificates. Every institution wants an original. Ordering more later is slower and more annoying than over-ordering now.
• Locate the original will. A photocopy creates real difficulty. Check the home, the safe, the attorney's office, and the county Register of Wills, which may hold it in safekeeping.
• Secure the property. Lock the house, take possession of vehicles and valuables, and confirm the homeowner's insurer knows the property is vacant - many policies restrict coverage on an unoccupied home.
• Do not pay any debts yet. This is counter-intuitive and important. Paying a credit card before you know whether the estate is solvent can leave you personally exposed, because Pennsylvania sets an order of priority for payment.
• Do not distribute anything. Not the car to a nephew, not "the things Mum wanted her to have". Nothing leaves until the estate is settled.

Opening the estate

Go to the Register of Wills in the county where the decedent lived. You will file the original will, a petition for probate, and the death certificate, and pay a filing fee based on estate value.

The Register issues Letters Testamentary, along with short certificates - the certified proof of your authority that banks and transfer agents will ask for. Order several; they are inexpensive and some institutions keep them.

If the will is self-proving, this step is quick. If it is not, you will need witnesses to prove the signature, which is exactly the delay a self-proving affidavit is designed to prevent.

Then open an estate bank account using an EIN obtained from the IRS. Every receipt and disbursement flows through it. Never mix estate money with your own - commingling is the fastest route to a surcharge.

Advertising and Rule 10.5

Two separate notice obligations, both with teeth:

Advertise the grant of letters

Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3162, immediately after letters are granted you must publish notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation near where the decedent lived, and in the county legal periodical designated for legal notices. The notice asks creditors to come forward and debtors to pay.

Keep the proofs of publication. They matter later, both for creditor protection and for the final account.

Notice to beneficiaries - Rule 10.5

Under Pa. O.C. Rule 10.5, you must give written notice of estate administration to beneficiaries and intestate heirs within three months of the grant of letters, by personal service or first-class mail. Then, within ten days of giving that notice, file a certification with the Register confirming you did so.

Gathering and valuing assets

Build a complete picture as at the date of death - that is the valuation date for inheritance tax.

• Bank, credit union, and brokerage accounts - request date-of-death balances in writing.
• Real estate - an appraisal is the defensible route. A county assessment is not a market value.
• Vehicles, jewellery, collections, and household contents.
• Business interests, partnership stakes, and loans owed to the decedent.
• Retirement accounts and life insurance - note these separately. Assets with a named beneficiary pass outside the estate and are not yours to administer, though some are still reportable for inheritance tax.

File a verified inventory with the Register listing the decedent's real and personal property. Redirect mail to yourself: statements and bills are how you find the accounts nobody mentioned.

The nine-month tax deadline

This is the deadline that shapes the whole administration. The Pennsylvania inheritance tax return, Form REV-1500, and the payment are due nine months after the date of death.

Rates depend on each beneficiary's relationship to the decedent - 0% spouse, 4.5% lineal, 12% siblings, 15% everyone else. See the Pennsylvania inheritance tax guide for the full table.

You are also responsible for the decedent's final personal income tax returns (federal and Pennsylvania) for the year of death, and, if the estate earns income during administration, a fiduciary income tax return.

Debts and the one-year wait

Pay debts in the statutory order of priority - administration costs and the family exemption first, then funeral expenses and certain medical costs, then taxes, then general unsecured creditors. If the estate is insolvent, following this order is what protects you.

Scrutinise each claim. Not every bill that arrives is valid, and some debts die with the person. Ask for documentation.

The practical rule most Pennsylvania executors follow: wait one year from the date you advertised the grant of letters before making final distribution. A creditor who surfaces after that has a far weaker position, whereas distributing early and then meeting a valid claim can leave you personally on the hook for the shortfall.

Distributing and closing

1. Confirm the inheritance tax is settled and you hold the Department of Revenue's assessment.
2. Confirm all valid debts and administration expenses are paid.
3. Prepare an account showing everything received, everything paid, and the proposed distribution.
4. Distribute - either informally, with beneficiaries signing receipts and releases, or formally, by filing an account for Orphans' Court audit.
5. Obtain signed receipts and releases from every beneficiary, and keep them.
6. Close the estate account last.

Informal settlement is faster and cheaper and works when everyone is cooperative. Choose the formal route where beneficiaries are in conflict, a beneficiary is a minor or incapacitated, or you want the court's discharge - the audit brings finality that receipts and releases do not.

Timeline at a glance

Mistakes that create personal liability

• Distributing before taxes and debts are settled. The most expensive error there is. Money handed to a beneficiary is very hard to retrieve, and the Department of Revenue will look to you.
• Commingling funds. Everything through the estate account, always.
• Missing the nine-month deadline. Interest runs from that date.
• Selling estate property without authority. Check the will grants you power of sale; if it does not, you may need court approval.
• Poor records. You may have to account for every dollar. Keep receipts and a running ledger from day one.
• Going silent. Most executor disputes are communication failures, not misconduct. Send beneficiaries a short update every couple of months even when there is nothing to report.
• Favouring yourself. If you are both executor and beneficiary, document every judgment call. Your fiduciary duty runs to all beneficiaries equally.

Common questions

Do I need a lawyer to be an executor?

Not strictly. Simple estates are sometimes administered without counsel, but fees are payable from the estate and personal liability for errors falls on you - which is why most executors retain a lawyer for anything beyond a small, uncontested estate.

How much does an executor get paid in Pennsylvania?

Reasonable compensation, payable from the estate. Pennsylvania sets no fixed statutory percentage; what is reasonable depends on the size and complexity of the estate and the work involved. Commissions are taxable income to you, so a family member who is also a residuary beneficiary sometimes waives the fee and takes the inheritance instead - which is not taxed as income.

What if the will cannot be found?

The estate is generally administered as intestate. A copy can sometimes be admitted, but it is an uphill argument, since an original that cannot be located may be presumed destroyed with intent to revoke.

Do I have to post a bond?

Often not, if the will waives it. Where the will is silent or the executor lives out of state, the Register may require one.