What Act 50 of 2025 changed for Pennsylvania estates

What the Act does

Act 50 of 2025 was signed on 24 November 2025. It makes three changes to how Pennsylvania estates work. Two raise dollar thresholds in 20 Pa.C.S. § 3101, the statute that lets certain holders release property without letters being granted. The third changes what happens to an intestate estate when there is no heir to be found.

None of it touches the inheritance tax, and none of it touches the small estate threshold. Both of those are worth saying twice, because both are already being reported incorrectly.

Change one: bank and deposit releases rose to $20,000

Under § 3101 a financial institution may release a deposit without letters. That ceiling rose from $10,000 to $20,000, effective 23 January 2026.

The part that matters more than the number: the threshold is per financial institution, not per estate. If the person banked in three places, each one is measured on its own. An estate holding $18,000 at one bank and $15,000 at another is looking at two separate releases, not a combined $33,000 that blows through the limit.

Section 3101 permits a release. It does not force one. Each institution sets its own paperwork, so the practical step is to call and ask what they want before assuming anything.

Change two: Treasury unclaimed property rose to $20,000

The amount of unclaimed property held by the Pennsylvania Treasury that can be claimed without letters rose from $11,000 to $20,000. That change took effect later than the others, on 25 May 2026.

This one reaches more families than it looks like it should. The Treasury holds more than $5 billion in unclaimed property and returned $334.1 million of it in 2025. More than one in ten Pennsylvanians is owed something, and the average claim is worth more than $1,000. A forgotten account belonging to someone who died years ago is exactly the kind of thing sitting in that database.

Change three: heirless estates now stay local

Where an intestate estate has no heir under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2103, it used to escheat to the Commonwealth. From 23 January 2026 it passes instead to an endowed community fund at the community foundation serving the municipality where the person lived. If there is no such foundation, it goes to the one serving the school district, and then to the one serving the county. Escheat to the Commonwealth is now the last resort rather than the default.

Pennsylvania stops its intestate order at the descendants of grandparents, so estates genuinely reach this point. What Act 50 changes is where the money lands when they do.

What did not change

Act 50 left the small estate threshold, the inheritance tax rates, the tax deadlines and the family exemption exactly as they were. It raised two limits that can be collected without letters and redirected heirless estates, and nothing else. This is the part to read carefully, because the conflation is already out there.

• The small estate threshold. 20 Pa.C.S. § 3102 is untouched. It is still $50,000 gross, still excludes real estate and § 3101 property, and Pennsylvania still handles it by petition to the Orphans’ Court under Pa. O.C. Rule 5.50 rather than by affidavit. If you see $20,000 described as Pennsylvania’s small estate limit, that is § 3101 being reported under the wrong name.
• The inheritance tax rates. 0% for a surviving spouse. 0% for a parent inheriting from a child aged 21 or younger and for a child aged 21 or younger inheriting from a parent. 4.5% for direct descendants and lineal heirs, stepchildren included. 12% for siblings. 15% for everyone else. Charities and government entities are exempt.
• The tax deadlines. Still a 5% discount if paid within three months of the date of death, set at 5% of the tax paid or the tax due, whichever is less. Still delinquent after nine months, with 2026 interest at 7%. Still form REV-1500, filed in duplicate with the county Register of Wills.
• The family exemption. Still $3,500 under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3121.

Is the inheritance tax going away?

Several bills to repeal or phase out the Pennsylvania inheritance tax were introduced in the 2025 to 2026 session. None has been enacted. Pennsylvania remains one of only five states with an inheritance tax, alongside Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska and New Jersey. Iowa left that list when its repeal took effect for deaths on or after 1 January 2025.

Plan on the tax that exists. The federal estate tax exclusion for 2026 is $15,000,000, which is why most families owe nothing federally and still owe Pennsylvania from the first dollar.

What this means for an estate you are handling now

Three practical points come out of Act 50:

1. Before assuming you need letters to reach a bank account, ask the institution. The per-institution ceiling is now $20,000, and more estates clear it than did before.
2. Search the Treasury database. It is free, it takes a few minutes, and the threshold for claiming without letters is now $20,000.
3. Do not let a $20,000 figure change how you treat the small estate procedure. That threshold is still $50,000, and it is still a court petition.

If you are not sure which statute applies to your situation, the county office will tell you, at no charge, and so will we. Where the answer is that you need a probate attorney, we will say that too.