Will.com / Wills / Pennsylvania
Make your own Pennsylvania will.
Yours in about 20 minutes. Document generation isn’t currently available in Pennsylvania while we review its rules for online legal document services. The signing requirements below still apply.
Document generation isn’t currently available in Pennsylvania.
Is a self-written will legal in Pennsylvania?
Yes. Pennsylvania recognizes wills you write yourself, as long as they meet the state's signing requirements. The governing statute is 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. §2501 et seq.
Pennsylvania does not require witnesses at signing, though having two adults sign as witnesses is recommended and accepted. You don't need a notary for the will itself to be valid, but adding a notarized "self-proving" affidavit makes the probate process faster later (this tool generates that for you automatically). Pennsylvania also recognizes handwritten ("holographic") wills, written entirely in your own handwriting and signed.
You must be at least 18 years old and of sound mind. Choose witnesses who don't inherit under your will: some states void or reduce a gift to a witness, and the exact Pennsylvania rule is covered below. This tool walks you through the rules so you don't trip over them.
A will you write yourself has the same legal force as one drafted by an attorney, provided you follow the signing rules. Courts admit self-written wills to probate every day. An attorney's value is in advising on complex estates, not in drafting the document itself.
What it costs to make a will in Pennsylvania
A Pennsylvania estate-planning attorney typically charges $300 to $600 for a simple will, and $1,000 to $1,500 for a will-plus-revocable-trust package. Rates run higher in dense metros and lower in rural areas. Most attorneys bill at $250 to $400 per hour and need one or two meetings to draft a basic will.
You can also write a will entirely from scratch with a sheet of paper and a pen, with no software at all. Pennsylvania requires the same minimal signing process regardless of who drafts the document. The risk with a from-scratch will is technical: a missing self-proving affidavit, a witness who's also a beneficiary, or wording that creates ambiguity for the probate court. That's what this tool prevents.
Will.com is free at the document level. The $29/year subscription adds cloud-stored, zero-knowledge-encrypted access so you can edit and update your plan as life changes.
Pennsylvania will requirements at a glance
How it works
- 1
Answer a few questions
About you, your family, and what you own.
- 2
Download your will
A complete, personalized document, formatted for Pennsylvania courts.
- 3
Sign your will
Print and sign your will. Having witnesses is recommended but not required in Pennsylvania. Keep the signed copy somewhere safe.
When you might want an attorney instead
An online will works for most people. It's the right tool when your situation is straightforward: you want to leave your assets to family or friends, you don't have complex tax issues, and you're not anticipating a fight over your estate.
Consider hiring an attorney if any of these apply:
- Your estate is large enough to trigger federal estate tax (over $15 million in 2026) or Pennsylvania estate or inheritance tax.
- You own a business, complex investments, or assets in multiple states or countries.
- You're in a blended family, especially if you want to leave assets to a current spouse while protecting children from a prior relationship.
- You have a child or beneficiary with special needs and want a supplemental-needs trust that won't disqualify them from public benefits.
- You expect someone to contest the will, or you're disinheriting a close family member.
- You have substantial retirement accounts and want sophisticated beneficiary planning.
If none of these apply, an online will is genuinely fine. The legal validity of your will doesn't depend on who drafted it, only on whether Pennsylvania's signing rules were followed.
Self-proving affidavit in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania recognizes self-proving affidavits. Will.com attaches one to your will: a short statement your witnesses sign in front of a notary, swearing to what they saw when you signed. See 20 Pa.C.S. §3132.1.
A self-proven will skips the requirement to track down witnesses years later for the probate court. It's optional, but adding the affidavit at signing time saves your executor work. Will.com generates the affidavit alongside the will.
Who can witness your will in Pennsylvania
20 Pa.C.S. §2502: an ordinary Pennsylvania will needs no attesting witnesses at all; it must be in writing and signed by the testator at the end, and two witnesses are required only when the testator signs by mark or another person signs the testator's name at the testator's direction. At probate every will must be proved by the oaths or affirmations of two competent witnesses (20 Pa.C.S. §3132), and for a will the testator signed personally, proof of the testator's signature is preferred, so the proving witnesses need not have watched the signing. The former witnesses section of the wills chapter has been repealed, and Pennsylvania has no interested-witness rule: no statute voids or reduces a gift to a witness who is also a beneficiary. Having two disinterested adults witness the signing remains the safer practice, since they can prove the will and complete a self-proving affidavit.
Family changes after you sign
A child born or adopted after the will. A child who arrives after you sign, and who isn't named or accounted for in the will, is covered by Pennsylvania law rather than by your wishes. The safest practice is to update your will when your family changes.
20 Pa.C.S. §2507(4): if the testator fails to provide in the will for a child born or adopted after making the will, that child receives out of the testator's property not passing to a surviving spouse such share as the child would have received had the testator died unmarried and intestate owning only that portion of the estate, so a surviving spouse's share comes off the top before the child's share is computed. The claim is defeated only where it appears from the will that the failure to provide was intentional, so an intention shown by evidence outside the will does not bar it. Subsection (4) states no further exception: it does not turn on whether the testator had other children living when the will was executed, on a devise to the child's other parent, or on a transfer the testator made outside the will.
A spouse you married after signing. Updating the will after marriage avoids relying on whatever Pennsylvania law provides by default.
20 Pa.C.S. §2507(3): if the testator marries after making a will, the surviving spouse receives the share of the estate to which the spouse would have been entitled had the testator died intestate. Two exceptions defeat that share, and both are read off the will itself: the will gives the spouse a greater share than intestacy would, or it appears from the will that the will was made in contemplation of marriage to that surviving spouse. A will that provides for the spouse but gives less than an intestate share does not defeat the claim, because the test is a greater share and not merely some provision; and contemplation of the marriage must appear from the will, not from evidence outside it.
Two tiers, both private
Free: nothing leaves your browser. No account, no storage. Clear your answers whenever.
Subscription ($29/year): zero-knowledge encrypted storage. We store the ciphertext; only you hold the key. Edit and update as life changes.
Document generation isn’t currently available in Pennsylvania.