How to Fill Out and Sign Your Pennsylvania Last Will and Testament

Any Pennsylvania resident who is at least 18 and of sound mind can fill out a Pennsylvania last will and testament template, sign it at the end, and have a legally binding document. To make probate smooth, add two witnesses and a notarized self-proving affidavit. Everything else is a matter of entering the right information in the right fields and understanding which of your assets the will actually controls.

Who Can Use a Pennsylvania Will Template

Pennsylvania keeps the threshold short: you must be 18 or older and of sound mind.¹ Sound mind means you understand what you own, who your natural heirs are, and what signing the document does. You do not need an attorney, though complicated estates often warrant one.

Information to Gather Before You Open the Template

Collect the following so you can work through the fields in one sitting:

Your full legal name and address. The county where you live determines which Register of Wills handles probate.
A personal representative, usually called an executor, plus an alternate. This is the person who pays your debts, files tax returns for the estate, and distributes what remains.
Every beneficiary’s full legal name. For charities, use the registered organizational name.
Specific gifts described precisely: a house by street address, a bank account by institution and account number, a vehicle by make and year.
A residuary clause naming who receives everything left after specific gifts and debts. Without one, leftover assets fall into intestacy.
A guardian and alternate guardian for any children under 18. If you skip this, a court picks.

What Your Will Controls, and What It Doesn’t

A will governs probate assets only. Property that already has a built-in transfer mechanism passes outside the will no matter what you write in the template. Listing those assets anyway tends to confuse your executor and sometimes creates conflicts.

The following pass directly to a named beneficiary or co-owner:

Real estate or bank accounts held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship.
Bank, brokerage, or investment accounts with payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designations.
Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s, which follow the beneficiary form on file.
Life insurance proceeds, which go to the policy’s named beneficiary.
Property already titled in a trust, which follows the trust’s terms.

Point your template at what you actually hold in your sole name: a house titled only to you, individual accounts with no POD designation, vehicles in your name, and personal belongings. To change who receives a non-probate asset, update the beneficiary designation on the account itself. A conflicting instruction in the will does not override it.

Filling Out and Signing the Document

Every Pennsylvania will must be in writing and signed by the testator at the end.² Typed, printed, or handwritten templates all count. Your signature goes after the last substantive clause. Anything written below your signature is ignored, though it does not void what sits above it.

Do You Need Witnesses?

This surprises most people. Pennsylvania does not require witnesses at the moment you sign a standard will. A will you sign alone is technically valid. After you die, however, two witnesses must verify your signature before the Register of Wills admits the document to probate. If no one watched you sign, your executor has to locate people who can identify your handwriting, which slows probate and can doom the document if it is contested. Signing in front of two witnesses up front avoids the whole problem.

Witnesses are strictly required in two narrow situations: when you sign by making a mark instead of writing your name, and when someone else signs on your behalf because you cannot. In both cases two witnesses must be present and must sign themselves.²

Making the Will Self-Proving

A self-proving affidavit removes the need for your witnesses to appear at the Register of Wills after your death. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3132.1, you acknowledge the will and each witness swears an affidavit, all before a notary or another officer authorized to administer oaths.³ The notary attaches a certificate under seal. The register then accepts the affidavits as proof of validity without live testimony, unless someone challenges the will.

Because the self-proving affidavit depends on witness affidavits, you need at least two attesting witnesses to use the option, even though a basic Pennsylvania will does not require them. Most templates include the affidavit as a final page. Fill it out, gather both witnesses, and visit a notary together. Pennsylvania caps notary fees at $5 per signature for witnessing or attesting.⁴ For the testator plus two witnesses, expect to pay around $15 to $20.

Where to Store the Signed Will

A perfectly executed will does no good if no one can find it. A bank safe deposit box is reliable, provided your executor knows the bank and branch. A fireproof home safe works if your executor knows the combination. Some attorneys hold originals, but retrieval becomes awkward if the firm closes or moves. Wherever you keep the original, keep a photocopy somewhere else, and make sure your executor and at least one trusted family member know the location of both.

One caution on safe deposit boxes: in some counties, opening a decedent’s box requires a court order or the presence of a bank officer and a state representative. If the will naming the executor is locked inside, you have a circular problem. Confirm your bank’s and county’s procedures before you decide.

Life Events That Change What Your Will Does

Pennsylvania law adjusts your will automatically after certain events, whether or not you touch the document. These changes happen by statute and can override the template’s wording.

Marriage After You Sign

If you marry after signing and the will does not mention your new spouse, that spouse receives the share they would have taken under intestacy, as if you died without a will.⁵ The intestate spousal share depends on who else survives you:⁶

No surviving children or parents: your spouse takes the entire estate.
Surviving parents but no children: your spouse takes the first $30,000 plus half the balance.
Children who are also your spouse’s children: your spouse takes the first $30,000 plus half the balance.
Children from a prior relationship: your spouse takes half the estate, with no $30,000 preference.

To prevent this automatic share, either update the will to provide for the new spouse or state in the document that it was made in contemplation of the marriage.

Divorce After You Sign

Once a divorce is finalized, every provision benefiting your spouse becomes ineffective; the law treats your former spouse as having predeceased you.⁵ The same rule applies if you die during pending divorce proceedings in which grounds have been established. The exception is language in the will showing you intended the provision to survive a divorce.

Children Born or Adopted Later

A child born or adopted after you sign the will, often called an after-born child, receives the share they would have taken under intestacy from the portion of your estate not passing to a surviving spouse, unless the will shows the omission was intentional.⁵ If you intend to exclude a future child, say so explicitly in the document. Otherwise the court presumes you forgot.

The Spousal Elective Share

Even a will that deliberately leaves your spouse nothing cannot fully disinherit them. A surviving spouse may claim one-third of a broadly defined pool called the elective share.⁷ The base reaches beyond probate assets and includes:

Property passing by will or intestacy.
Property conveyed during the marriage if you kept the right to use or receive income from it.
Property you could have revoked or consumed for your own benefit at death.
Jointly held property you could have transferred unilaterally.
Annuity survivorship rights purchased during the marriage, if you were receiving payments at death.
Gifts made during the marriage and within one year of death that exceeded $3,000 per recipient.

The surviving spouse files the election with the clerk of the Orphans’ Court within six months of death or six months after probate, whichever is later.⁸ Missing the deadline permanently waives the right. Only a prenuptial or postnuptial waiver removes the elective share entirely.

Changing or Revoking the Will Later

A signed will remains in force until you replace or destroy it. Pennsylvania recognizes three methods of revocation:⁹

A new will or codicil. A new will that expressly revokes all prior wills is the cleanest option. A codicil amends specific provisions without replacing the whole document. Both must meet the same execution requirements as the original.
A separate signed writing declaring revocation, proved in the same manner as a will.
Physical destruction of the original with intent to revoke, such as burning or tearing. If someone else destroys it for you, they must do so in your presence at your express direction, and two witnesses must later confirm your instructions under oath.

For a small change, such as swapping a beneficiary or updating a guardian, a codicil is faster than rewriting the will. For bigger shifts like a new spouse, new children, or a materially different asset picture, draft a new will and include a sentence revoking all prior wills and codicils. That one sentence prevents an old document from surfacing and competing with the new one during probate.

Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax to Consider While Drafting

Pennsylvania imposes an inheritance tax paid by the people who receive your assets, with rates set by their relationship to you:¹⁰

Surviving spouse: 0 percent.
Children, grandchildren, and other lineal descendants: 4.5 percent.
Siblings: 12 percent.
Nieces, nephews, friends, and other non-exempt recipients: 15 percent.

Transfers between a parent and a child aged 21 or younger are taxed at zero in either direction. Charitable bequests, transfers to government entities, and life insurance proceeds paid to a named beneficiary are generally exempt.¹⁰

Keep these rates in mind as you decide who gets what. A large bequest to a sibling or a friend carries a much higher tax cost than the same bequest to a child. Some testators increase a bequest to cover the tax; others specify in the will whether the beneficiary or the estate bears it. Either approach beats leaving the question open for your executor to sort out.

1
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 Section 2501 – Who May Make a Will
2
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 Section 2502 – Form and Execution of a Will
3
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 Section 3132.1 – Self-Proved Wills
4
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Notary Public Fees
5
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 Section 2507 – Modification by Circumstances
6
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 Section 2102 – Share of Surviving Spouse
7
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 Section 2203 – Right of Election Resident Decedent
8
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 Section 2210 – Procedure for Election Time Limit
9
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 Section 2505 – Modification and Revocation of Wills
10
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Inheritance Tax