Affidavit of Heirship in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has no general affidavit of heirship statute, but it has a court procedure to determine title to a decedent's real estate. If a person dies owning Pennsylvania real estate and either no letters were granted and one year has passed since death, or a personal representative was appointed but has not filed an account within six years of death, an heir or devisee (or a person claiming through one, and certain community development nonprofits, municipalities or redevelopment authorities) may petition the orphans' court division to establish title, terminate the interests of other heirs or devisees after proper notice, or cancel a fraudulent conveyance.

Surviving spouse: the entire estate if the decedent left no descendants and no parent; the first $30,000 plus one-half of the rest if there are no descendants but a parent survives, or if all of the decedent's descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse; one-half of the estate if any of the decedent's descendants are not the surviving spouse's descendants. Anything the spouse does not take (or everything, if there is no spouse) passes to descendants; if none, to parents; if none, to brothers and sisters and their descendants; if none, to grandparents (half to each side) and their children and grandchildren; if none, to aunts and uncles and their children and grandchildren. If there are no such relatives, the estate passes to an endowed community fund held by a qualifying community foundation in the decedent's municipality, then school district, then county, and only if none exists to the Commonwealth.