PA Intestacy Scenarios: Who Inherits

Pennsylvania's intestacy statute sets a fixed order of relatives who inherit when someone dies without a will: spouse and children first, then parents, then siblings, then increasingly remote relatives, with the exact split depending on which of these survive (20 Pa.C.S. §§ 2101 to 2114). Our intestacy overview walks through the seven basic family scenarios and how a sample estate divides in each one. The scenarios below cover what that basic formula does not answer. Real families are more complicated. Here are the situations that generate the most questions, and the most disputes.

Stepchildren: "I Raised Them, Do They Not Inherit?"

No. Unless legally adopted, a stepchild receives nothing under Pennsylvania intestacy law. It does not matter that the stepparent raised the child from age two, paid for college, or considered them family in every way. The intestacy statute recognizes only biological children and legally adopted children. The only way to provide for stepchildren is a will, trust, or beneficiary designation.

Adopted Children: Full and Equal Rights

Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2108, an adopted child has the same inheritance rights as a biological child; completely and without distinction. An adopted child inherits from the adoptive parents (and their families) and the adoptive parents inherit from the adopted child. Upon adoption, the child's legal relationship with the biological parents is generally terminated for inheritance purposes, so the adopted child no longer inherits from them under intestacy. Section 2108 carves out two exceptions. In a stepparent adoption, where one biological parent married the adopting stepparent, the child is still treated as that parent's issue and continues to inherit from and through that parent. The cutoff applies only to the other biological parent. The child also still inherits from biological relatives other than the parents, a grandparent or an aunt, for example, who have maintained a family relationship with the child. Outside those two exceptions, a biological parent who wants the child to inherit has to name the child in a will.

Children Born Outside of Marriage

A child born outside of marriage inherits from the mother automatically. Inheritance from the father requires that paternity has been established by one of these methods: the parents married each other; the father openly held the child out as his own and either received the child into his home or provided support (shown by clear and convincing evidence); or clear and convincing evidence that the man was the father, which may include a prior court determination of paternity. Once paternity is established, the child inherits equally with all other children, including children born during a marriage.

Half-Siblings: Equal Treatment

Pennsylvania does not distinguish between half-siblings and full siblings. Under the intestacy statute, a half-sibling inherits exactly the same share as a full sibling. If a decedent has no spouse, no children, and no parents, and the estate passes to siblings, all siblings share equally, regardless of whether they share one parent or two.

Simultaneous Death: "We Died Together"

Under Pennsylvania's Uniform Simultaneous Death Act (20 Pa.C.S. § 8501), when two people die simultaneously (or within such a short time that there is no sufficient evidence of the order of death), each person's property is distributed as if they survived the other. The practical effect: the estate of each spouse passes to their own family, not to the other spouse's family. Many wills include a 30-day survivorship clause to handle near-simultaneous deaths, requiring the beneficiary to survive the testator by at least 30 days to inherit.

Where there is no will, a second and stricter rule does the work. For intestate succession, an heir must outlive the decedent by five days or is treated as having predeceased (20 Pa.C.S. § 2104(10)). That rule is broader than § 8501: it applies even when the order of death is known. A spouse who survives by three days and then dies inherits nothing, and the first estate passes as though that spouse were never there.

The Unmarried Partner: The Hardest Case

This is the scenario I see most often, and the results are harsh. A couple lives together for years or decades without marrying. One partner dies without a will. Absent a valid common law marriage, the surviving partner inherits nothing. The estate passes to the decedent's children, parents, siblings, or more remote relatives. Pennsylvania closed the door on common law marriage: no common law marriage contracted after January 1, 2005 is valid (23 Pa.C.S. § 1103). One narrow exception survives. A common law marriage that was otherwise lawful and contracted on or before that date is still valid, and that survivor is a spouse, with a full intestate share under § 2102 and the right of election under § 2203. If that describes your situation, raise it early. Otherwise the surviving partner may even be asked to vacate the home they shared.

The "Surprise" Parent Inheritance

A married couple in their 60s, no children, one spouse dies without a will. The surviving spouse assumes they inherit everything. But the deceased spouse's mother is still alive at age 89. Under § 2102(2), the surviving spouse gets only the first $30,000 + 50%, the mother-in-law inherits the rest. On a $400,000 estate, that is $185,000 going to a mother-in-law the spouse may barely know. A simple will would have left everything to the spouse.

Legal and factual content on this page was last verified: Aug. 2026. If you are reading this significantly after that date, confirm key provisions with current statute text or contact our office.