Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes

20 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 101 (2026)

 Short title.

✓ current as of May 2026
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TITLE 20

DECEDENTS, ESTATES AND FIDUCIARIES

 

Chapter

1.  Short Title and Definitions

3.  Ownership of Property; Legal Title and Equitable Estate

7.  Orphans' Court Divisions

9.  Register of Wills

21.  Intestate Succession

22.  Elective Share of Surviving Spouse

25.  Wills

27.  Contractual Arrangements Relating to Succession

28.  Formula Clauses for Federal Tax Purposes

31.  Dispositions Independent of Letters; Family Exemption; Probate of Wills and Grant of Letters

33.  Administration and Personal Representatives

35.  Accounts and Distribution

37.  Apportionment of Death Taxes

41.  Foreign Fiduciaries

43.  Temporary Fiduciaries

45.  Sureties

51.  Minors

53.  Pennsylvania Uniform Transfers to Minors Act

54.  Health Care

54A. Out-of-Hospital Nonresuscitation (Deleted by amendment)

55.  Incapacitated Persons

56.  Powers of Attorney

57.  Absentees and Presumed Decedents

58.  Mental Health Care

59.  Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction

61.  Estates

62.  Disclaimers

63.  Multiple-Party Accounts

64.  Transfer on Death Security Registration

71.  Trust Estates (Deleted by amendment)

72.  Prudent Investor Rule

73.  Municipalities Investments

75.  Limitations on Exercise of Trustee Powers and Powers of Beneficiaries to Appoint Trustees

76.  Powers of Appointment

77.  Trusts

79.  Charitable Instruments

81.  Principal and Income

82.  Revised Price Act (Repealed)

83.  Inalienable Property

84.  Military Service

85.  Simultaneous Death

86.  Anatomical Gifts

87.  Employee Benefits

88.  Slayers and Elder Abusers

 

Enactment.  Unless otherwise noted, the provisions of Title 20 were added June 30, 1972, P.L.508, No.164, effective July 1, 1972.

Special Provisions in Appendix.  See section 4 of Act 164 of 1972 in the appendix to this title for special provisions relating to effective date and savings provision of title and preservation of rights and liabilities.

Title Heading.  The heading of Title 20 was amended June 30, 1972, P.L.508, No.164; December 10, 1974, P.L.816, No.271; and December 10, 1974, P.L.867, No.293.

 

 

CHAPTER 1

SHORT TITLE AND DEFINITIONS

 

Sec.

101.  Short title.

102.  Definitions.

 

Enactment.  Chapter 1 was added June 30, 1972, P.L.508, No.164, effective July 1, 1972.

§ 101.  Short title.

This title shall be known and may be cited as the "Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code." Each chapter herein shall be known and may be cited by its chapter heading.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 34 cases, 1975–2019 · leading case: Re: Trust Under Deed of D. Kulig Apl of Budke, C., 175 A.3d 222 (Pa. 2017).
Re: Trust Under Deed of D. Kulig Apl of Budke, C., 175 A.3d 222 (Pa. 2017). · cites it 2× “164 (codified as amended 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 101, et seq.). 4 “A child or spouse who has been omitted from a will, as when a testator makes a will naming his or her two children and then, sometime later, has two more children who are not mentioned in the will.”
Est. of: I. Wilner Appeal of: Baker, L., 142 A.3d 796 (Pa. 2016). “164 (as amended 20 Pa.C.S. §§101–8815). [J-18-2016] - 6 benefiting them and now conveniently missing (in its original form, at least), supersedes the existing will.”
Witco Corp. v. Herzog Bros. Trucking, Inc., 863 A.2d 443 (Pa. 2004). · cites it 2× “2d 1023 (1998) (per curiam), where that court endeavored to define "debt" as it relates to the Probate Code, 20 Pa.C.S. § 101 et seq. Because "debt" is not defined in the definitional section of the Probate Code, the court looked to the default statutory definitions found in the…”
In re Est. of Easterday, 209 A.3d 331 (Pa. 2019). “§§ 3301 - 3904, the Probate, Estates, and Fiduciaries Code, 20 Pa.C.S. § 101 - 8815 ("PEF Code"), and Rule of Civil Procedure 1920.”
In Re: Est. of Harold E. Rood, 121 A.3d 1104 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2015). “20 Pa.C.S. §§ 101, etseq. 4 . The name is drawn from In re Totten, 17 Bedell 112 (N.”
Vine v. Commonwealth, State Employees' Ret. Bd., 9 A.3d 1150 (Pa. 2010). “26 (as amended 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 101— 8815). . Section 5608 states, in relevant part: (a) Third party liability.”
Est. of Baehr, 596 A.2d 803 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1991). · cites it 2× “On its face, the accounting required of Arentzen under the Pennsylvania Probate Estates and Fiduciary Code, 20 Pa.C.S. § 101, et seq. ("Probate Code") would appear to fall within the exception.”
In Re:Trust Under Agreement of William J. Cohen, 188 A.3d 1208 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2018). “In support of its position, Bible Church relies on Pennsylvania's Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries ("DEF") Code, 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 101 - 8815, specifically, Section 2514(9), (10), and (11).”
Pastuszek v. Pastuszek, 499 A.2d 1069 (Pa. 1985). “In Pennsylvania, the statute dealing with decedents’ estates is found in the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, 20 Pa.C.S. § 101 et seq. In this case the personal representatives were appointed by the Surrogate’s Court of Delaware and questions concerning assets in the…”
Nedd v. United Mine Workers of Am., 488 F. Supp. 1208 (M.D. Penn. 1980). “4 While it is uncertain that the Pennsylvania Probate, Estate and Fiduciaries Code, 20 Pa.Cons. Stat.Ann. §§ 101 et seq., would cover a union pension trust fund, 5 I am satisfied that the codified rule of discretion that has been followed in a long, unbroken line of eases would…”
Williams v. Milliken, 506 A.2d 918 (Pa. 1986). · cites it 2× “The Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, 20 Pa.C.S. § 101 et seq. provides that for purposes of descent by, from, or through a child born out of wedlock, the child is considered the child of his father if paternity is established by clear and convincing evidence.”
In re Est. of Klink, 743 A.2d 482 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1999). “¶ 5 There is also no dispute that Appellant and Appellee are equally qualified as “persons entitled” to letters of administration under the Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries Code, 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 101 et seq., as they are both members of the same classification, “other fit persons.”
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