SUBCHAPTER D
GRANT OF LETTERS
Sec.
3151. Proper county.
3152. When 21 years elapsed.
3153. Contents of petition.
3154. Affidavit and oath.
3155. Persons entitled.
3156. Persons not qualified.
3157. Nonresidents.
3158. Letters of administration C.T.A.
3159. Letters of administration D.B.N. or D.B.N.C.T.A.
3160. Letters of administration durante minoritate, durante absentia, and pendente lite.
3161. Oath of personal representative.
3162. Advertisement of grant of letters.
3163. Submission to jurisdiction.
§ 3151. Proper county.
Letters testamentary or of administration on the estate of a decedent domiciled in
the Commonwealth at the time of his death shall be granted only by the register of
the county where the decedent had his last family or principal residence. If the decedent
had no such domicile in the Commonwealth, letters testamentary or of administration
may be granted by the register of any county wherein property of the estate shall
be located and, when granted, shall be exclusive throughout the Commonwealth. If the
decedent had no such domicile in the Commonwealth, and had no property located therein,
and service of process is to be made in the Commonwealth upon his personal representative
as authorized by law, then letters testamentary or of administration on his estate
may be granted by the register of any county of the Commonwealth and, when granted,
shall be exclusive throughout the Commonwealth.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
5
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1975–2025 · leading case:
Gee v. Cbs, Inc., 471 F. Supp. 600 (E.D. Pa. 1979).
Gee v. Cbs, Inc., 471 F. Supp. 600 (E.D. Pa. 1979).
· cites it 2× “These statutory procedures would apply to Bessie Smith’s estate by virtue of 20 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 3151 (Purdon), since it is uncontroverted that she died domiciled in Pennsylvania.”
Knit With v. Knitting Fever, Inc., 742 F. Supp. 2d 568 (E.D. Pa. 2010).
“For an executor or administrator to be appointed to administer the estate, a petition would have to be made for a grant of letters of administration or letters testamentary pursuant to 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 3151 and 3155. Plaintiff has not produced any such letters testamentary.”
Wallace ex rel. Wallace v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., 984 F. Supp. 2d 377 (M.D. Penn. 2013).
““For an executor or administrator to be appointed to administer the estate, a petition would have to be made for a grant of letters of administration or letters testamentary pursuant to 20 Pa. Cons.Stat. §§ 3151 and 3155.” Id.; see also Gee v.”
Yakowicz v. Costigan, 331 A.2d 238 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1975).
“) Section 3151 of the Code, 20 Pa. C.S. §3151, states: “Letters testamentary or of administration on the estate of a decedent domiciled in the Commonwealth at the time of his death shall be granted only by the register of the county where the decedent had his last family or…”
In Re: Est. of: Wine, J., Appeal of: Lefevre, M. (Pa. Super. Ct. 2025).
“Murphy, who is a member of the bar who has no interest in the outcome of the litigation. ____________________________________________ 3 Murphy averred that Decedent was domiciled in Beaver County at the time of his death.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.