Pennsylvania Form RW-09 Estate Inventory: Filing, Valuation, and Tax

Pennsylvania Form RW-09 is the estate inventory: a signed, verified list of everything the decedent owned that passes through probate, filed with the Register of Wills in the county where the estate was opened. The personal representative — executor under a will, administrator without one — completes it, values each asset as of the date of death, and files it by the earlier of the estate’s formal account or the Pennsylvania inheritance tax return deadline.¹

When Form RW-09 Is Due

Under 20 Pa. C.S. § 3301(c), the inventory is due no later than the date you file your account with the court or the due date (including extensions) for the Pennsylvania inheritance tax return, whichever comes first.¹ The inheritance tax return is due nine months after the date of death, so that date is the outer boundary for most estates.²

The clock can move up. Any beneficiary, heir, or creditor may send a written request to the personal representative or their attorney demanding an earlier filing. Once received, the inventory is due within three months of your appointment or within 30 days of the request, whichever is later. The Orphans’ Court can also order you to file at any time.¹

Missing the deadline carries teeth. Under 20 Pa. C.S. § 3182, the court can remove a personal representative who has failed to perform a duty imposed by law.³ A heir who petitions the court citing a late inventory has real leverage.

What Belongs on the Inventory

The inventory covers two categories: all personal property the decedent owned anywhere in the world, and all real estate located within Pennsylvania.⁴ Personal property means every tangible and intangible asset that is not real estate: bank accounts solely in the decedent’s name, brokerage accounts, vehicles, household furnishings, collectibles, business interests, and similar holdings. If the decedent was sole owner and the asset does not pass automatically by operation of law or contract, it belongs on Form RW-09.

Assets You Leave Off

Non-probate assets are excluded because they pass directly to a named beneficiary or surviving co-owner outside probate:

Jointly titled property with survivorship rights — real estate or bank accounts held as joint tenants with right of survivorship, which pass automatically to the co-owner.
Life insurance paid to a named beneficiary.
Retirement accounts and payable-on-death accounts, including IRAs, 401(k)s, and POD bank accounts with a designated beneficiary.
Assets already transferred into a revocable living trust during the decedent’s lifetime.

Errors in either direction hurt. Listing a non-probate asset inflates the reported estate value and can trigger unnecessary fees. Omitting a probate asset invites claims of mismanagement. When you are unsure how something is titled, pull the deed, account agreement, or beneficiary designation before deciding.

Real Estate Outside Pennsylvania

Real estate in other states is not listed in the main body of the inventory and is not added into the total. Instead, Form RW-09 provides a memorandum of out-of-state real estate at the end of the document. You may include a value for each property in that memorandum, but the values stay outside the inventory total.¹ Real estate is governed by the law of the state where it sits, and transferring title usually requires an ancillary probate proceeding in that state.

Filling Out the Form

Form RW-09 is available from your county’s Register of Wills and from the Pennsylvania courts website.⁴ Some counties, including Philadelphia, post it on their own resource pages.⁵ The form is short, but you need your paperwork gathered before you sit down with it.

Header Information

At the top, fill in the estate’s file number (assigned when the estate was opened), the decedent’s full legal name, date of death, last residence, and Social Security number. If an attorney represents the estate, add the law firm’s name, address, phone, email, and the attorney’s Pennsylvania Supreme Court ID number.

The Asset Listings

The body of the form is where you list every probate asset with a clear description and its fair value as of the date of death.¹ Descriptions should be specific enough that the court and beneficiaries can identify each asset. For a bank account, name the institution and the last four digits of the account number. For a vehicle, list year, make, model, and VIN. For real estate, list the street address and county. Each asset gets a dollar value in the column opposite its description, and everything is totaled at the bottom. The memorandum of out-of-state real estate, if any, sits at the end and stays outside that total.

Verification and Signature

The form ends with a verification statement declaring the inventory true and correct. Signing it acknowledges that false statements are subject to penalties under 18 Pa. C.S. § 4904, unsworn falsification to authorities.⁴ Every personal representative must sign. If the estate uses a corporate fiduciary, an authorized officer signs on its behalf.

Valuing the Assets

Pennsylvania law requires fair value as of the date of death.¹ Fair value is the price a willing buyer and willing seller would agree to in an open market with neither side forced to act.

Some assets you can value yourself. Cash accounts, publicly traded stocks, and bonds all have objective values on any given date. Request date-of-death balance statements from each financial institution. For stocks, use the closing price on the date of death or the average of the day’s high and low, which is the standard method for estate tax purposes. Vehicles can be valued using recognized pricing guides based on year, mileage, and condition.

Other assets need a professional. Real estate, closely held business interests, antiques, fine art, and unusual collections should be appraised by a qualified appraiser. For real estate, a licensed appraiser preparing a market analysis based on comparable sales is standard. For a closely held business, the appraisal typically blends income-based, market-based, and asset-based methods, weighted to the nature of the company.

Keep every appraisal report in your estate file. If the Department of Revenue or a heir later challenges a reported value, that documentation is your defense.

Where to File and What It Costs

Submit the completed Form RW-09 to the Register of Wills in the county where the estate was opened. Most counties accept the form in person or by mail; some have moved to electronic filing for certain documents. Check with your county office for its preferred method.

Filing fees vary by county. Some charge a flat fee — Westmoreland County, for example, charges $25 for an estate inventory.⁶ Others use a tiered structure keyed to gross estate value. Chester County’s schedule scales upward with the estate, reaching $675 or more for estates exceeding $900,000 in gross value.⁷ Call the Register of Wills before filing to confirm the exact fee and any cover sheets the office requires.

When New Assets Turn Up: Supplemental Inventories

Discovering new assets after the original inventory is common. Forgotten bank accounts, safe deposit boxes, and delayed tax refunds all surface during administration. Under 20 Pa. C.S. § 3303, whenever property not included in the original inventory comes to your knowledge, you must file a supplemental inventory with the Register within 30 days of discovering it.¹

The supplemental inventory follows the same format: describe the newly discovered asset, assign its fair value as of the date of death, and file it with the Register. Westmoreland County charges the same $25 fee for a supplemental as for the original.⁶ Act quickly once a new asset surfaces; ignoring it exposes you to the same removal grounds that apply to a missed initial filing.

How the Inventory Ties to Inheritance Tax

The values on Form RW-09 feed directly into the estate’s Pennsylvania inheritance tax return. Pennsylvania taxes most transfers from a decedent’s estate at rates that depend on the beneficiary’s relationship to the decedent:²

Surviving spouse, or parent receiving from a child 21 or younger: 0 percent.
Direct descendants and lineal heirs: 4.5 percent.
Siblings: 12 percent.
All other heirs, except charities and government entities: 15 percent.

The inheritance tax becomes delinquent nine months after the date of death, the same outer deadline that governs the inventory. Paying the tax within three months of death qualifies the estate for a 5 percent discount on the amount paid.⁸ That discount rewards gathering values quickly. Undervaluing assets to shrink the tax bill invites penalties and interest; overvaluing them inflates the tax needlessly.

A Separate Duty: Notice to Beneficiaries

Notice to beneficiaries is not part of Form RW-09, and personal representatives often confuse the two. Pennsylvania Orphans’ Court Rule 10.5 requires you to send written notice of estate administration to all beneficiaries named in the will, the decedent’s spouse and children (named or not), and all intestate heirs where there is no will or a partial intestacy. This notice goes out within three months after the grant of letters.⁹

Within ten days after sending the notice, you must file a certification with the Register of Wills confirming that notice was given. The rule requires you both to send the notice and to prove to the court that you did. Keep copies of every notice letter and any delivery confirmations in the estate file.

1
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries
2
Department of Revenue. Inheritance Tax
3
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 20 – Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries
4
Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Estate Inventory Form
5
Register of Wills | City of Philadelphia. Register of Wills – Resources
6
Westmoreland County, PA – Official Website. Fee Schedule
7
Chester County, PA – Official Website. Fee Schedule
8
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. How Do I Qualify for the 5 Percent Discount for Inheritance Tax
9
Pennsylvania Code. 231 Pa. Code Rule 10.5 – Notice to Beneficiaries and Intestate Heirs