Philadelphia County, PA Probate Information

The first Philadelphia question is which path fits the estate, and the second is that here you deal with a single office for both stages. Pennsylvania probate begins at the Register of Wills, where the will is admitted and letters are granted; in Philadelphia that same office, as Clerk of the Orphans' Court, also takes the later administration filings, and the Orphans' Court Division decides accounts and disputes. A qualifying small estate can instead be settled on a petition to the Orphans' Court division (20 Pa.C.S. § 3102), and some assets pass without any grant of letters at all (20 Pa.C.S. § 3101). The statewide thresholds and paths are covered on the Pennsylvania state page. A jointly owned Philadelphia rowhome or a beneficiary-designated account often passes outside the estate, so the estate that actually goes through probate can be smaller than the family expects.

Before you book a probate appointment, identify every bank, credit-union, brokerage, and retirement account, life-insurance policy, business interest, and parcel of Philadelphia real estate, along with every debt, and identify each heir by name. Only then can you pick the right path, bring the office a reliable estimate of the estate's value so it can set the correct graduated fee, and decide whether counsel is needed. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.

The Philadelphia Register of Wills and the Philadelphia Orphans' Court Division serve all of Philadelphia County, which is coextensive with the City of Philadelphia. Because the city and county are one consolidated government, there is a single Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans' Court for the entire city, covering Center City and every neighborhood from South Philadelphia and Fishtown to Germantown, Chestnut Hill, Roxborough, Manayunk, West Philadelphia, and the Northeast. Under Pennsylvania's venue rule in Title 20 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes (20 Pa.C.S.), letters are granted only by the register of the county where the decedent had a last family or principal residence (20 Pa.C.S. § 3151). A decedent who lived anywhere in the city has the estate opened here, regardless of neighborhood.

Philadelphia is the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. The Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans' Court office is at City Hall, Room 180, and the Orphans' Court Division judges of the First Judicial District hear accounts, audits, and contested matters. The same office is the filing point for both the grant of letters and the later administration filings, so a family opens the estate, obtains short certificates, files the inventory, and files the inheritance-tax return all through the one office at City Hall, with contested matters decided by the Orphans' Court Division judges.

One office is both the Register of Wills and the Clerk of the Orphans' Court. Philadelphia is a consolidated city-county, and by law its elected Register of Wills is also the Clerk of the Orphans' Court. That means a single office admits the will and grants letters at its probate counter in City Hall, Room 180, keeps the estate records, takes the inventory, receives the inheritance-tax return through its Inheritance Tax Department in City Hall, Room 177, and maintains the Orphans' Court dockets. This is different from most Pennsylvania counties, where the Register of Wills and the Clerk of the Orphans' Court are separate offices.

Probate is by appointment, with a virtual option. You cannot simply walk in to open an estate. The Probate Department schedules appointments at (215) 686-6255 or [email protected], and the office offers a virtual probate procedure for families who cannot appear in person, for the $125.00 virtual-probate fee listed on the office's published fee schedule. Bring the original will, an original death certificate, an estimate of the estate's value, and a valid photo ID, and be ready to pay by Visa, Mastercard, certified check, or money order.

The First Judicial District runs its own e-filing system. Orphans' Court accounts, petitions, and administration filings are made through the First Judicial District's FJD electronic filing system at fjdefile.phila.gov, which also provides Orphans' Court docket access; paper filings are accepted in person at City Hall, Room 415. Electronic filings must be in PDF format under Pa.O.C. Rule 4.7(b), and a username, password, and PIN issued by the First Judicial District are required. Attorneys handling the grant of letters can also use the Register's online probate system at rowlawyer.phila.gov. This is separate from the statewide UJS Portal.

The total probate fee is the all-in figure. Some county schedules add surcharges on top of a base probate fee. Philadelphia's schedule instead builds a $175.25 filing-fees block into every grant-of-letters total, and itemizes it: a Judicial Computer Project charge of $40.25, an automation fee of $15.00, and records-management, inheritance-tax, pleadings, access, and inventory components. Read the total on the schedule as the all-in figure for that estate-value bracket, and confirm the current amounts with the office.

The office is the inheritance-tax agent. The Register of Wills acts as the agent for filing and paying Pennsylvania inheritance tax, so the REV-1500 resident return is filed with the office at City Hall; its Inheritance Tax Department is in Room 177, (215) 686-2918. The tax becomes delinquent nine months after death, with a 5% discount for tax paid within three months; the rate detail is on the Pennsylvania state page.

Pennsylvania does not require an attorney to open a probate estate, and many uncontested Philadelphia estates are handled with the statewide forms and a probate appointment at the Register of Wills. Counsel makes sense when a will is contested or an appeal is taken from the Register to the Orphans' Court Division; when the estate is large, taxable, or holds a business interest or out-of-state property; when Philadelphia real estate must be sold and the terms are disputed; when the heirs are unknown or in conflict; or when a formal accounting or a dispute over the personal representative is filed through FJD e-filing. Because Philadelphia estates skew larger and more contested than those in the rural counties, counsel is common here. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Philadelphia probate attorney when the situation calls for counsel.

Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit-union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Philadelphia real estate, business interests, and unclaimed property, so you know the estate's value for estate settlement and can pick the right Pennsylvania path before you file.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the Philadelphia filing: the Petition for Grant of Letters (Form RW-02), the inventory (Form RW-09), and the supporting documents from Pennsylvania's statewide set, or the small-estate petition where the estate qualifies, ready for your probate appointment at City Hall or the office's virtual probate procedure.

Find a local probate attorney. When an estate is contested, taxable, or otherwise calls for counsel, Sunset connects families to a vetted Philadelphia probate attorney to file and appear.

Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).