Free Pennsylvania Last Will and Testament
Build a complete Pennsylvania will in minutes — free, no account. Fill in your details and download a ready-to-sign PDF with the protective clauses built in and Pennsylvania's correct signing requirements.
A free, ready-to-sign will — but not legal advice.
This builds a complete Pennsylvania will with the protective clauses most templates skip (survivorship period, residuary, minor's trust, executor powers). It becomes legally valid only when you sign it correctly (see the signing steps below). For a large or blended estate, have an attorney review it. RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm.
About you
Children
Name all your children, even any you are not leaving anything to — naming them prevents an 'omitted child' claim.
Who inherits everything else (your residuary estate)
The catch-all gift of everything not specifically given. Shares should total 100%.
Specific gifts (optional)
Particular items or sums to particular people.
Executor (the person who carries out your will)
Options
Naming them states the omission is intentional. Note: you generally cannot fully disinherit a spouse (see the warnings).
Before you sign — Pennsylvania notes
Choose 2 witnesses who are adults and who do NOT inherit under this Will. A beneficiary (or a beneficiary's spouse) should never witness your Will.
Add at least one residuary beneficiary with a share above 0%. Without a residuary gift, everything not specifically given would pass by intestacy (state default rules), defeating the point of the Will.
To make this Will valid in Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania is unusual: under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502 a will need only be IN WRITING and SIGNED BY THE TESTATOR AT THE END — witnesses are NOT required to be present or to sign at the moment of execution. The will is later proved at probate by the oaths of two competent witnesses to the testator's signature/handwriting (§ 3132). Two witnesses ARE required at signing only if the testator signs by mark or has another sign for him. To avoid needing witnesses to come forward at probate, the will should be made self-proved under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3132.1: the testator acknowledges and two witnesses make affidavits before a notary (or attorney certified to one), with the officer's certificate and seal attached. Notarization is NOT required for validity but is what creates the self-proved status.
This is a do-it-yourself Will for a straightforward estate. If you have a large or blended estate, business interests, tax concerns, a special-needs beneficiary, or want to disinherit close family, have an attorney review it. This is not legal advice and RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm.
Or email yourself a copy (PDF)
Last Will and Testament of [YOUR FULL NAME]
ARTICLE I — DECLARATION
I, [YOUR FULL NAME], a resident of [CITY], [COUNTY] County, Pennsylvania, being of full legal age to make a will and of sound mind and memory, declare this to be my Last Will and Testament, and I revoke all wills and codicils I have previously made.
ARTICLE II — FAMILY
I am not married.
If I have not named or provided for a child or other descendant in this Will, that omission is intentional and not the result of accident or mistake.
ARTICLE III — PAYMENT OF DEBTS, EXPENSES, AND TAXES
I direct my Executor to pay my legally enforceable debts, the expenses of my last illness and funeral, the costs of administering my estate, and any estate or inheritance taxes payable by reason of my death, out of the residue of my estate, without apportionment.
ARTICLE IV — TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY
I give my tangible personal property (household goods, furniture, vehicles, jewelry, collections, and personal effects not otherwise specifically given) to my residuary beneficiaries as they agree, or as my Executor determines if they cannot agree.
Pennsylvania does not give legal effect to a separate personal-property memorandum, so any specific items must be listed in this Will itself to be binding.
ARTICLE V — RESIDUARY ESTATE
I give all the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate to [RESIDUARY BENEFICIARY].
If no beneficiary named in this article survives me, my residuary estate shall pass to my heirs at law under the intestacy laws of my state.
ARTICLE VI — SURVIVORSHIP
Except as otherwise provided, a beneficiary must survive me by 30 days to receive any gift under this Will. A beneficiary who does not survive me by 30 days shall be treated as having predeceased me. This protects my estate from passing through the estate of a beneficiary who dies shortly after me.
ARTICLE VII — APPOINTMENT OF EXECUTOR
I nominate [EXECUTOR NAME] as Executor of this Will.
I direct that my Executor serve without bond and, to the fullest extent allowed by law, without court supervision (independent administration). My Executor shall have all powers granted to executors and personal representatives under the law of my state, including the power to sell, lease, invest, and distribute estate property, to pay debts and taxes, and to settle claims, all without prior court approval, as my Executor deems to be in the best interest of my estate.
ARTICLE VIII — DIGITAL ASSETS
I authorize my Executor to access, manage, distribute, and dispose of my digital assets and electronic communications, and to act as my fiduciary under the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (or its equivalent in my state), with full authority to consent to a custodian's disclosure of the content and records of my electronic communications and accounts.
ARTICLE IX — SIMULTANEOUS DEATH
If any beneficiary and I die under circumstances in which the order of our deaths cannot be established, that beneficiary shall be deemed to have predeceased me. If my spouse and I die under such circumstances, my spouse shall be deemed to have predeceased me.
ARTICLE X — GENERAL PROVISIONS
This Will shall be governed by the laws of the State of Pennsylvania.
If any provision of this Will is held invalid, the remaining provisions shall remain in full effect. Words of one gender include the other, and the singular includes the plural, as the context requires. The headings are for convenience only and do not affect the meaning of this Will.
EXECUTION
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I sign this Will, consisting of the foregoing pages, on this _____ day of ____________, 20____, at [CITY], Pennsylvania.
____________________________________
[YOUR FULL NAME], Testator
ATTESTATION — The foregoing instrument was signed by the Testator and declared to be the Testator's Will in our presence, and we, at the Testator's request and in the Testator's presence and in the presence of each other, sign below as witnesses, believing the Testator to be of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence.
Witness 1: ____________________________ Address: ____________________________
Witness 2: ____________________________ Address: ____________________________
SELF-PROVING AFFIDAVIT (20 Pa.C.S. § 3132.1) — sign this part before a notary to make probate easier:
TESTATOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT: "I, [TESTATOR NAME], the testator whose name is signed to the attached or foregoing instrument, having been duly qualified according to law, do hereby acknowledge that I signed and executed the instrument as my Last Will; and that I signed it willingly and as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed."
WITNESS AFFIDAVIT: "We (or I), [WITNESS 1 NAME] and [WITNESS 2 NAME], the witness(es) whose name(s) are (is) signed to the attached or foregoing instrument, being duly qualified according to law, do depose and say that we were (I was) present and saw the testator sign and execute the instrument as his Last Will; that the testator signed willingly and executed it as his free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed; that each subscribing witness in the hearing and sight of the testator signed the will as a witness; and that to the best of our (my) knowledge the testator was at that time 18 or more years of age, of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence."
[Subscribed, sworn and acknowledged before me by [TESTATOR NAME], the testator, and subscribed and sworn before me by [WITNESS NAMES], witness(es), this ___ day of ____, ____. (Signed) _______ (Official capacity of officer) / certificate and official seal attached.]
How to Sign Your Will in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is unusual: under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502 a will need only be IN WRITING and SIGNED BY THE TESTATOR AT THE END — witnesses are NOT required to be present or to sign at the moment of execution. The will is later proved at probate by the oaths of two competent witnesses to the testator's signature/handwriting (§ 3132). Two witnesses ARE required at signing only if the testator signs by mark or has another sign for him. To avoid needing witnesses to come forward at probate, the will should be made self-proved under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3132.1: the testator acknowledges and two witnesses make affidavits before a notary (or attorney certified to one), with the officer's certificate and seal attached. Notarization is NOT required for validity but is what creates the self-proved status.
Pennsylvania requires 2 witnesses: UNUSUAL: Pennsylvania does NOT require witnesses to sign in the testator's presence at the time of execution. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502 a will need only be in writing and signed by the testator at the end. Proof of the will at probate is instead made by two witnesses who can attest to the testator's signature (20 Pa.C.S. § 3132) — these are subscribing/proving witnesses who may attest at probate rather than at execution. Two witnesses ARE required at execution only when the will is signed by mark or signed by another at the testator's direction (§ 2502(1)-(2)).. Your will does not need to be notarized to be valid.
Choose witnesses who are adults and who do not inherit under your will. A beneficiary should never witness your will. Then sign the self-proving affidavit (20 Pa.C.S. § 3132.1) in front of a notary. That sworn statement lets the court accept your will without tracking down your witnesses later, which speeds up probate.
Can You Use a Handwritten (Holographic) Will in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania recognizes holographic (handwritten) wills. Because PA does not require attesting witnesses at execution, a will written and signed by the testator is valid even without witnesses; it is proved at probate by two witnesses to the signature/handwriting (20 Pa.C.S. § 3132). Even so, a typed will signed in front of witnesses is far less likely to be challenged, because handwritten wills are easy to get wrong (unclear gifts, no date, no witnesses) and invite disputes.
Spousal and Family Protections in Pennsylvania
Can you disinherit your spouse? You CANNOT fully disinherit a spouse. A surviving spouse may elect to take a flat ONE-THIRD (1/3) of certain property — NOT a UPC sliding scale. The 1/3 reaches property passing by will or intestacy PLUS several lifetime/nonprobate transfers in which the decedent retained control (e.g., property over which the decedent kept a power to revoke, consume, invade, or dispose of principal; income interests; certain conveyances within one year of death). Property conveyed with the spouse's joinder/consent and life-insurance proceeds are excluded from the elective base.
Children born after your will: If the testator fails to provide in the will for a child born or adopted AFTER making the will, and the omission was not intentional (as shown by the will), that after-born child receives, out of property not passing to a surviving spouse, the share the child would have received had the testator died unmarried and intestate owning only that portion of the estate. 20 Pa.C.S. § 2507(3)-(4). This is why the generator has you name your children and states that any omission is intentional.
If a beneficiary dies before you: A devise/bequest to a CHILD or other ISSUE of the testator does not lapse if that beneficiary predeceases the testator leaving issue who survive — the gift passes to the surviving issue per stirpes, unless the will provides otherwise. (PA's protected class is the testator's own children/issue, narrower than the UPC grandparent-descendant class.) Generator should include an express alternate-taker/survivorship clause to control disposition. The generator's "per stirpes" option and survivorship clause work alongside this rule.
Survivorship, No-Contest, and Digital Assets
Survivorship: Pennsylvania has adopted a 120-hour (5-day) survival requirement via the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act (20 Pa.C.S. ch. 21, §§ 8501 et seq. / § 2104(2) for intestacy). For devises, a non-surviving beneficiary triggers lapse/anti-lapse. Best practice (and generator default) is an express survivorship period of 30–60 days, which PA honors. The generator builds in a 30-to-60-day survivorship period regardless.
No-contest clauses: No-contest (in terrorem)/forfeiture provisions are enforceable in Pennsylvania, but 20 Pa.C.S. § 2521 makes such a provision UNENFORCEABLE if PROBABLE CAUSE exists for instituting the proceedings. Generator may include a no-contest clause but should warn it will not bar a contest brought with probable cause.
Digital assets: Pennsylvania has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, so your executor can manage your online accounts and digital property — the generator includes a clause granting that authority.
Personal-property list: Pennsylvania does not give legal effect to a separate personal-property memorandum, so list any specific items in the will itself.
What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania does not give a surviving spouse everything when children survive. The spouse takes a $30,000 'off-the-top' allowance plus half the rest — but ONLY when there are no children or when every child is also the spouse's child. The $30,000 allowance disappears entirely if any of the decedent's children are from another relationship, dropping the spouse to a flat one-half.
- Spouse, no children: Entire intestate estate. If the decedent leaves no surviving issue and no parents, the surviving spouse takes everything.
- Spouse and shared children: Spouse takes the first $30,000 plus 1/2 of the balance of the intestate estate when all of the decedent's surviving issue are also issue of the surviving spouse; the children divide the other half.
- Spouse and a child from another relationship: Spouse's share drops — NO $30,000 allowance. If one or more of the decedent's surviving issue are NOT issue of the surviving spouse, the spouse takes only 1/2 of the intestate estate; the issue divide the other 1/2.
- Children, no spouse: No spouse: the whole estate passes to the decedent's issue, taken per stirpes.
- No spouse or children: No spouse, no issue: to surviving parent(s); then to the decedent's brothers, sisters, and their issue; then to grandparents (split between paternal and maternal lines); then to aunts, uncles, and their children/grandchildren; escheats to the Commonwealth if no kin.
Unmarried partners, friends, and stepchildren you have not adopted generally receive nothing under intestacy. A will is how you override these defaults. Source: 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 2102, 2103.
Updating, Revoking, and Storing Your Will
Review your will after any big life change — marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, or a move to a new state. To change it, either sign a new will that revokes the old one (the cleanest option, and what this generator produces) or add a witnessed "codicil." Do not cross things out on a signed will — handwritten edits can invalidate it. Store the signed original somewhere safe and tell your executor where it is; a will that cannot be found is presumed revoked.
Common mistakes to avoid: using a beneficiary as a witness; forgetting a residuary clause (so part of the estate passes by intestacy); leaving a young child a lump sum outright at 18 instead of in trust; not naming a backup executor or guardian; and never actually signing the document. The generator above is built to avoid each of these.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a will made online valid in Pennsylvania?
Yes, if you sign it correctly. Pennsylvania requires 2 witnesses. The document this tool creates is a standard typed will; it becomes legally valid when you sign it following the steps above.
Does my Pennsylvania will need to be notarized?
No. Pennsylvania does not require your will to be notarized to be valid. Notarizing the separate self-proving affidavit is optional but makes probate easier.
How many witnesses does a Pennsylvania will need?
2 witnesses. UNUSUAL: Pennsylvania does NOT require witnesses to sign in the testator's presence at the time of execution. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502 a will need only be in writing and signed by the testator at the end. Proof of the will at probate is instead made by two witnesses who can attest to the testator's signature (20 Pa.C.S. § 3132) — these are subscribing/proving witnesses who may attest at probate rather than at execution. Two witnesses ARE required at execution only when the will is signed by mark or signed by another at the testator's direction (§ 2502(1)-(2)). They should be adults who do not inherit under the will.
Can I leave my spouse out of my Pennsylvania will?
You CANNOT fully disinherit a spouse. A surviving spouse may elect to take a flat ONE-THIRD (1/3) of certain property — NOT a UPC sliding scale. The 1/3 reaches property passing by will or intestacy PLUS several lifetime/nonprobate transfers in which the decedent retained control (e.g., property over which the decedent kept a power to revoke, consume, invade, or dispose of principal; income interests; certain conveyances within one year of death). Property conveyed with the spouse's joinder/consent and life-insurance proceeds are excluded from the elective base.
What happens if I die without a will in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania does not give a surviving spouse everything when children survive. The spouse takes a $30,000 'off-the-top' allowance plus half the rest — but ONLY when there are no children or when every child is also the spouse's child. The $30,000 allowance disappears entirely if any of the decedent's children are from another relationship, dropping the spouse to a flat one-half.
Does a Pennsylvania will avoid probate?
No. A will still goes through probate — it directs how your estate is distributed and names your executor, but the court still supervises (often a simplified, independent administration). To avoid probate entirely, people use living trusts and beneficiary designations in addition to a will.
How old do I have to be to make a will in Pennsylvania?
Generally 18. Testator must be 18 or older and of sound mind (20 Pa.C.S. § 2501). You must also be of sound mind.
Can I write my will by hand in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania recognizes handwritten (holographic) wills, but they are easy to get wrong and easy to challenge. A typed, witnessed will is much safer.
Do I need a lawyer to make a will in Pennsylvania?
Not for a straightforward estate — a properly signed will is valid whether or not a lawyer drafts it. See an attorney if you have a large or blended estate, business interests, tax concerns, a special-needs beneficiary, or want to disinherit close family.
Is this really free?
Yes. The generator is free, requires no account, and runs entirely in your browser — your answers are not sent to a server. It is not legal advice and RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm.
Disclaimer
This generator produces a general-purpose will for a straightforward estate and is not legal advice or a substitute for an attorney. Will and probate law changes; the Pennsylvania requirements here are current as of 2026-06-03. A will is only valid if signed and witnessed correctly. For a large, blended, or complex estate, tax planning, a special-needs beneficiary, or to disinherit close family, consult a Pennsylvania estate-planning attorney. RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm.
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