Does Pennsylvania have any special, simplified probate procedures for small estates?
There is a special, one-step probate procedure for estates with a gross value of less than $25,000. (See 20 Pa.C.S. 3102.) However, very few people use this procedure because it is more time-consuming and troublesome than the regular probate procedure. There are also special procedures so that unpaid wages of not more than $5,000 may be paid directly to the family, bank accounts of not more than $3,500 may be used to pay funeral bills, and life insurance of not more than $11,000 that is payable to the estate may be paid directly to the family (life insurance payable to a named beneficiary other than the estate is not part of the estate and requires no special provisions), and it is possible that those provisions could be used to avoid any probate proceedings in a very small estate. (See 20 Pa.C.S. 3101.) The reason that you don’t see many ways to avoid probate in Pennsylvania is that the procedure is very simple, does not require any court hearing, and usually takes no more than 15-20
