Educational guide — not legal advice. Will-execution rules are state-specific and change over time. Confirm current requirements with a licensed Pennsylvania attorney before relying on them.
Pennsylvania does not require a notary, or witnesses at signing
20 Pa.C.S. §2502 states the requirement in one sentence: “Every will shall be in writing and shall be signed by the testator at the end thereof,” subject to three rules that follow. A writing and a signature at the end are the whole of it. Neither a notary nor an attesting witness appears in the general rule.
Pennsylvania had a witness section, 20 Pa.C.S. §2504, headed “Witnesses.” It was repealed on December 10, 1974 by P.L.867, No.293. The same act repealed 20 Pa.C.S. §2503, “Nuncupative wills,” which had governed oral wills, and added 20 Pa.C.S. §2504.1.
“At the end thereof” is a placement rule, and §2502(1) says what happens after it
20 Pa.C.S. §2502(1), headed “Words following signature,” provides that “the presence of any writing after the signature to a will, whether written before or after its execution, shall not invalidate that which precedes the signature.” Writing that appears after the signature does not invalidate what precedes it.
The only two places Pennsylvania requires witnesses at signing
Both are situations where the testator cannot sign, and both are in 20 Pa.C.S. §2502.
Signature by mark — 20 Pa.C.S. §2502(2). If the testator is unable to sign for any reason, a will to which the testator makes a mark, and to which the testator’s name is subscribed before or after the mark, is as valid as a signed will — “Provided, That he makes his mark in the presence of two witnesses who sign their names to the will in his presence.”
Signature by another — 20 Pa.C.S. §2502(3). If the testator can neither sign nor make a mark, a will to which the testator’s name is subscribed “in his presence and by his express direction” is as valid — “Provided, That he declares the instrument to be his will in the presence of two witnesses who sign their names to it in his presence.”
The two witnesses everyone expects are at probate, not at signing
20 Pa.C.S. §3132, “Manner of probate,” opens: “All wills shall be proved by the oaths or affirmations of two competent witnesses.” Every will, including one signed without a single witness present.
The section then sets an order of preference:
- 20 Pa.C.S. §3132(1), a will the testator signed. Proof by subscribing witnesses “if there are such” is preferred to the extent they are readily available, and proof of the signature of the testator is preferred to proof of the signature of a subscribing witness.
- 20 Pa.C.S. §3132(2), a will signed by mark or by another. Proof “must be by subscribing witnesses,” except so far as the register is satisfied that such proof cannot be adduced by reasonable diligence. Other proof may then be accepted, and proof of the signature of a witness who subscribed an attestation clause is prima facie proof that the facts recited in that clause are true.
Read together with §2502, the two witnesses are a requirement of proof at probate, not of execution.
20 Pa.C.S. §3154(a) sets who administers those oaths: the register of any Pennsylvania county, or a public officer of another jurisdiction with similar duties authorized by the register of the county where letters are sought.
What the self-proved-will procedure does, and what it cannot do here
20 Pa.C.S. §3132.1(b) provides that “an attested will may at the time of its execution or at any subsequent date be made self-proved” by the testator’s acknowledgment and the affidavits of the witnesses. Under 20 Pa.C.S. §3132.1(a), that affidavit “shall be accepted by the register as proof of the facts stated as if it had been made under oath before the register at the time of probate.”
Two limits are stated in the statute itself.
It applies to an attested will. §3132.1(b) is written for a will that has witnesses; the affidavits are the witnesses’ affidavits. A Pennsylvania will that the testator simply signed, with nobody else present, has no witnesses to give them. Such a will is valid under §2502 and cannot be made self-proved under §3132.1.
It is disapplied in two cases. §3132.1(a) accepts the affidavit “unless there is a contest with respect to the validity of the will, or unless the will is signed by mark or by another as provided in section 2502.” A will executed under §2502(2) or §2502(3) — the two cases that do require witnesses at signing — is the one kind of Pennsylvania will that cannot be carried by a self-proving affidavit.
Where the procedure is available, 20 Pa.C.S. §3132.1(b) allows the acknowledgment and affidavits to be made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of Pennsylvania or of the state where execution occurs, or before an attorney at law who certifies to such an officer under 20 Pa.C.S. §3132.1(c). The same alternative appears in 20 Pa.C.S. §3154(b) for a subscribing witness’s oath, again excepting a contest or a §2502(2) or §2502(3) will. The statute does not require that the officer be a notary.
Handwritten wills
Chapter 25 of Title 20 runs from 20 Pa.C.S. §2501 to 20 Pa.C.S. §2521 and contains no separate provision for handwritten or holographic wills. 20 Pa.C.S. §2502 applies to a will however the document was produced.
Oral wills are a different matter: 20 Pa.C.S. §2503, “Nuncupative wills,” was repealed in 1974 by P.L.867, No.293 and nothing replaced it.
Electronic wills
Pennsylvania has no electronic-wills provision. 20 Pa.C.S. §2502 requires a writing signed by the testator at the end, and Chapter 25 contains no section on electronic records or electronic signatures.
The Electronic Transactions Act, Act of Dec. 16, 1999, P.L. 971, No. 69, points the same way. Section 104(a) applies the act to electronic records and signatures relating to a transaction; section 104(b)(1) provides that the act “does not apply to a transaction to the extent it is governed by ... a law governing the creation and execution of wills, codicils or testamentary trusts.”
A will executed in another state
20 Pa.C.S. §2504.1 provides that a will is validly executed if executed in compliance with §2502, “or in compliance with the law of the jurisdiction where the testator was domiciled at the time of the execution of the will or at the time of his death.”
The saving clause is keyed to domicile, not to the place of execution. A will signed in another state, complying with that state’s law, is validly executed in Pennsylvania if that state was the testator’s domicile when the will was signed or when the testator died. Where it was neither — a Pennsylvania domiciliary signing while traveling — §2504.1 does not reach it, and §2502 governs.
Timing at the register
20 Pa.C.S. §3133(a): “A will may be offered for probate at any time.” There is no deadline.
20 Pa.C.S. §3133(c) attaches a consequence to delay rather than a deadline: a will offered for original or subsequent probate more than one year after the testator’s death is void against a bona fide grantee, or a holder of a lien on the testator’s real estate, where the conveyance or lien is entered of record before the will is offered for probate.
What the record shows
Pennsylvania does not require a will to be notarized, and does not require witnesses at signing. 20 Pa.C.S. §2502 requires a writing signed by the testator at the end; 20 Pa.C.S. §2504, the witness section, was repealed in 1974 by P.L.867, No.293. Witnesses at signing are required only where the testator signs by mark (§2502(2)) or another signs for the testator (§2502(3)). Two competent witnesses are required at probate under 20 Pa.C.S. §3132, where proof of the testator’s own signature is preferred over proof of a subscribing witness’s signature for a will the testator signed. Notarization appears only in the optional self-proved-will procedure of 20 Pa.C.S. §3132.1, which applies to an attested will and is disapplied on a contest or for a §2502(2) or §2502(3) will; the acknowledgment may be taken before an attorney at law as well as an officer authorized to administer oaths. Chapter 25 contains no holographic-will and no electronic-will provision, and the Electronic Transactions Act, No. 69 of 1999, §104(b)(1), excludes the law governing execution of wills from its scope. A will is also validly executed if it complies with the law of the testator’s domicile at execution or at death (20 Pa.C.S. §2504.1).
Related reading
- How to Write a Will (and What Makes It Valid) — the requirements that are common across states
- Probate Cost in Pennsylvania
- Probate Timeline in Pennsylvania
- Will Cost in Pennsylvania
- Executor Fees in Pennsylvania
- Dying Without a Will in Pennsylvania
Educational information only — not legal advice. Pennsylvania will-execution rules are set by statute and can change; confirm current requirements with a licensed Pennsylvania attorney before relying on them. Sources: 20 Pa.C.S. §§2501, 2502, 2503 (repealed), 2504 (repealed), 2504.1, 3132, 3132.1, 3133, 3154; Act of Dec. 10, 1974, P.L.867, No.293; Electronic Transactions Act, Act of Dec. 16, 1999, P.L. 971, No. 69, §104; Pennsylvania General Assembly (legis.state.pa.us).