01/22/2026
NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PENNSYLVANIA LAW ENDS 100% TAX ON ESTATES OF RESIDENTS WHO DIE WITHOUT FAMILY OR A WILL
HARRISBURG, PA — A change to Pennsylvania law taking effect on January 23, 2026, will end a decades-old practice that directed the estates of Pennsylvanians who die without family or a will entirely to the state.
Act 50 of 2025 updates Pennsylvania’s Intestate Succession law to ensure that when no heirs can be identified, a decedent’s estate is placed into an endowed community fund at the community foundation serving the county where the individual lived. These endowed funds provide permanent, charitable support to local nonprofits and community needs.
The law is the result of a collaborative initiative led by the Registers of Wills & Clerks of Orphans’ Court Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Community Foundations Association, and passed with unanimous, bipartisan support in the General Assembly. Governor Josh Shapiro signed Act 50 into law on November 24, 2025.
“For too long, Pennsylvania effectively imposed a 100% tax on residents who died without family or a will,” said Bryan Tate, York County Register of Wills & Clerk of Orphans’ Court and President of the Registers of Wills & Clerks of Orphans’ Court Association of Pennsylvania. “Act 50 ensures that a person’s life savings can now be remembered and celebrated by benefiting the community they called home—forever.”
Prior to Act 50, Title 20, Section 2103 of the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code required that when no family survived a decedent, the estate passed directly to the Commonwealth to be used in the state’s annual budget. Act 50 amends the law to add endowed community funds as the final successor before assets would pass to the Commonwealth.
“This is a truly historic moment,” said Ralph Serpe, President and CEO of the Adams County Community Foundation and a leader of the Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association’s PA Intestate Legislation Action Team. “Pennsylvania is now the only state in the nation to ensure that intestate assets are kept local, endowed, and charitable through community foundations.”
Under the updated law, if a Pennsylvanian dies without a will or their will cannot be located, assets pass in the following order:
1. Decedent’s children
2. Decedent’s parents
3. Decedent’s siblings and their children
4. Decedent’s grandparents
5. Decedent’s aunts, uncles, and their children, and grandchildren
6. An endowed community fund at the community foundation serving the decedent’s county
7. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, if no endowed community fund exists
According to the Pennsylvania Community Foundations Association, every county in Pennsylvania is served by a community foundation with an endowed community fund or by a regional foundation that provides county-specific endowed funds.
“This reform ensures that dollars once lost to the state budget will now support local nonprofits and community services,” said Judge Torren Ecker, former state representative and sponsor of the original legislation modernizing intestate succession. “Those assets will remain in the communities where these individuals lived.”
Act 50 was enacted as part of House Bill 1176, which combined three legislative proposals related to the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code. The bill passed unanimously in both the House and Senate before being signed into law.
The updated Intestate Succession provisions take effect January 23, 2026.
For more information about Act 50 of 2025, visit the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s official website.
# # #
Bryan Tate is York County Register of Wills & Clerk of Orphans’ Court and President of the Registers of Wills & Clerks of Orphans’ Court Association of Pennsylvania (RWOCAP). RWOCAP was formed in 1927 to promote greater efficiency in the administration of Pennsylvania’s county offices. RWOCAP works together on legislation to benefit the welfare of officials and the citizens of Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth. www.rwocap.org
Ralph Serpe is President & CEO of Adams County Community Foundation and led the PA Intestate Legislation Action Team for the Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association (PACFA). PACFA was formed to help PA community foundation members connect with each other, learn from each other and, when possible, act together. www.pacfapartners.org
