To make a will in Pennsylvania, you need to be at least 18 and of sound mind, put your wishes in writing, and sign the document at the end. Those are the only two formal requirements the statute imposes.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Section 2502 Everything else, including witnesses, is technically optional for a will you sign yourself. In practice, though, you’ll want witnesses and a notarized affidavit, because a will that barely clears the statute can still fall apart at probate.
Who Can Make a Will
You must be 18 or older and of sound mind.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Section 2501 Pennsylvania courts break “sound mind” into three pieces: you know who your close family members are, you have a general sense of what you own, and you understand what your will does with that property. You don’t need perfect recall of every asset or relative. Someone with early-stage dementia or age-related memory loss can still have capacity if they meet those three criteria when they sign.
Capacity is judged at the moment of signing, not before or after. If there’s any real question about your mental state, a doctor’s evaluation dated close to the signing is cheap protection against a later challenge.
Decide What Goes in the Will Before You Draft It
Four decisions shape almost every provision. Work them through before you sit down to draft or meet with a lawyer.
Take Stock of What You Own and What You Owe
List real estate, vehicles, valuable personal property, bank accounts, investments, and anything else of meaningful value. Note significant debts too, because your estate has to pay those before beneficiaries receive anything. You don’t have to itemize everything in the will itself, but you can’t make sensible choices without seeing the full picture.
Choose Beneficiaries and Bequests
Name the people or organizations who will inherit from you. Specific gifts (“my wedding ring to my daughter”) are fine, but always include a residuary clause covering everything you didn’t mention by name. Without one, any leftover property is distributed under Pennsylvania’s intestacy rules as though you had no will for those assets. Friends, unmarried partners, stepchildren, and charities inherit nothing under intestacy, so a will is the only way to include them.3Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Chapter 21, Intestate Estate
Pick an Executor
The executor shepherds your estate through probate, pays debts, and distributes assets according to your instructions. Choose someone organized and trustworthy, and name an alternate in case your first choice can’t or won’t serve. An executor doesn’t need to live in Pennsylvania, but an out-of-state executor may face additional requirements from some county registers of wills.
Name a Guardian for Minor Children
If you have children under 18, your will is where you name the person you want to raise them. Name an alternate too. Without a guardian designation, a judge decides, and the judge’s pick may not match yours. For parents of young children, this is often the single most important reason to have a will at all.
Know What Your Will Will Not Control
Several common assets pass outside the will entirely, going straight to whoever is named as beneficiary or co-owner. The beneficiary designation controls, and your will cannot override it.
- Life insurance goes to the named policy beneficiary.
- IRAs, 401(k)s, and similar retirement accounts pass to whoever the financial institution has on file.
- Real estate or bank accounts held jointly with right of survivorship pass automatically to the surviving co-owner.
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts transfer directly to the designated recipient.
- Trust assets follow the terms of the trust.
If your will leaves everything to your children but your life insurance still names an ex-spouse, the ex-spouse collects the insurance. Review and refresh beneficiary designations whenever your life changes, and treat them as part of the same plan as your will.
Sign It Properly
The will has to be in writing and signed by you at the end.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Section 2502 Typed and handwritten wills are both valid; there are no extra rules for a will written entirely by hand. Anything appearing below your signature doesn’t invalidate the rest of the will, but it also won’t count as part of it, so put the signature line last.
Witnesses are not legally required for a standard will you sign yourself. They become mandatory only if you sign with a mark instead of your name, or if you direct someone else to sign for you. In either of those cases, two witnesses must be present and sign the will.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Section 2502
Even when the law doesn’t demand witnesses, use two anyway. Witnesses make a will far harder to contest, and they’re required if you want a self-proving affidavit. Pick witnesses who are not named as beneficiaries; an interested witness won’t automatically invalidate the will, but it creates exactly the kind of conflict that invites a challenge.
Add a Self-Proving Affidavit
Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3132.1, you can attach a self-proving affidavit to your will.4Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Section 3132.1 It’s a sworn statement, signed by you and your witnesses in front of a notary or other authorized officer, confirming that the signing formalities were followed. With one attached, the Register of Wills can accept the will at probate without tracking down your witnesses years later to testify. You can add the affidavit at signing or any time afterward. If you’re going to the trouble of having witnesses, do the affidavit at the same time.
You Cannot Fully Disinherit a Spouse
A surviving spouse in Pennsylvania has the right to claim an elective share equal to one-third of certain property, regardless of what the will says.5Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Chapter 22, Elective Share of Surviving Spouse The property subject to the claim includes assets passing by will or intestacy, revocable trust assets you controlled at death, jointly held property you could have unilaterally conveyed, and certain gifts made within one year of death exceeding $3,000 per recipient. Life insurance proceeds, employer-sponsored retirement and pension benefits, and property transferred with your spouse’s written consent are excluded from the calculation.
If you and your spouse agree on the plan, this rule doesn’t affect you. If you’re planning to leave your spouse less than a third of that property, expect that they can override your wishes by electing against the will.
Store the Original Where Your Executor Can Find It
Only the original signed will has legal force. Keep it somewhere safe and accessible: a fireproof box at home, a safe deposit box, or your attorney’s office are all common choices. A safe deposit box can create access delays for your executor, because opening the box after death may require a court order depending on how the box is titled. Weigh that against the security of a bank vault.
Tell your executor exactly where the original is and give them a copy for reference. If the original can’t be found after your death, Pennsylvania courts may presume you destroyed it on purpose, and your estate could be distributed as though you never wrote a will.
When the time comes, the executor files the original with the Register of Wills in the county where you lived. Once the Register accepts it, the executor receives letters testamentary, which is the legal authority to act for the estate. A self-proving affidavit streamlines this step; without one, the Register may need witness testimony to verify the will.
Update or Revoke It When Life Changes
A will is a living document. Pennsylvania gives you several ways to change or cancel it.
A codicil is a separate document that amends part of your existing will without replacing it. It has to meet the same formalities: in writing, signed by you at the end, and safest with two witnesses. Codicils suit small changes, like swapping executors or adjusting a single bequest. For anything larger, drafting a new will is cleaner than stacking codicils.
Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2505, you can revoke a will three ways: by executing a new will or codicil that supersedes it, by signing a separate written declaration of revocation that meets the same formalities as a will, or by physically destroying the document with intent to revoke.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Section 2505, Revocation of a Will Physical destruction includes burning, tearing, or obliterating the document. If someone else destroys it for you, they must do so in your presence at your express direction, and two witnesses must be able to confirm you gave that direction.
Marriage and divorce trigger automatic adjustments to an existing will under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2507, but the rules produce default results, not necessarily the ones you would choose.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Section 2507 Update your will after any marriage or divorce rather than relying on the statute to sort it out.