Probate is the court-supervised process of validating a will, appointing an executor, and overseeing the collection, management, and distribution of a deceased person’s estate. Pennsylvania’s process is generally more efficient than the more feared reputations probate carries in some other states, but it is still a formal legal proceeding, and understanding what it actually requires — rather than relying on secondhand horror stories — makes the experience considerably less daunting for the executor navigating it.

The process begins when the executor named in the will (or an administrator, if there’s no will) files the will and a petition with the Register of Wills in the county where the deceased resided. Once the estate is opened, the executor’s real work begins: identifying and valuing assets, notifying creditors and beneficiaries, paying valid debts and taxes, and ultimately distributing what remains according to the will’s terms or, absent a will, Pennsylvania’s intestacy statute.