No need to fear the Probate Process in Pennsylvania

By Raymond M. Roberts, Esquire
Rothman Gordon
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Probate… the very mention of the word can be scary for some people. Countless newspaper ads and direct mailings with invitations to financial planning seminars stoke fears of the probate process and the need to avoid it. These ads and mailers tout the benefits of utilizing “Living Trusts” to avoid probate and to save your family from the probate process. The problem is that in order to avoid probate, all of your assets must be placed into the trust. If you have assets that remain in your name at the time of your death, your estate will still have to go through the probate process. On top of that, if you set up a “living trust,” which is also known as a revocable trust, your assets will still be subject to federal and state death taxes. While in some states, such as Florida and New York, probate can be a nightmare, in Pennsylvania, it really isn’t anything that should stir fear in anyone. So, what, exactly, is probate?

What is probate?

Probate is simply the process through which an estate is administered. The probate process in Pennsylvania is really quite simple and fairly easy and isn’t something that should induce any fear or apprehension. If a person dies in Pennsylvania owning any assets in their name, their estate will need to be probated. Whether you have a will or not, your estate must be probated. Probate is simply the administration of your estate by a court according to the terms of your will, or if you have no will, by the State’s intestate succession laws.