Pennsylvania Inheritance Law

A Testament makes a contrariness.

Pennsylvania inheritance laws direct passing of someone's Belongings on to others adjacent his end. They specify the types of Belongings included in the estate and if transfers are person to taxation.

Certain transfers of property that occur following someone's death are not subject to Pennsylvania inheritance taxes. One example is proceeds of life insurance on the life of the decedent.

Valuation of Estate Property

In Pennsylvania, property is usually valued for inheritance tax purposes as of the date of the transferor's death, though for some types of property, alternate valuation dates are permissible.

Rates of Inheritance Tax on Transfers

Inheritance customs rates vary based on the Frequency of the contact between the decedent and the beneficiary, including:

* to a surviving Husband - 0%;

* to lineal heirs (children/grandchildren and their spouses,etc.) 4.5%;

* to siblings (brother/sister) - 12%; and

* to collateral heirs (nephew/niece, aunt/uncle, friends, etc.) - 15%.

Transfers Not Subject to Tax

Testate or Intestate: Meaning

Someone who dies with a written Testament is said to die "testate." A human race who dies without a written Testament is said to die "intestate."

Testate or Intestate: Significance

Courts generally apotheosis the wishes of a human race who makes a written Testament distributing her Belongings. Pennsylvania's exceptional rules on dividing up Belongings when someone dies without a Testament are called "intestate trail" and dictate constant percentage distributions of Belongings in varying amounts to lineal and collateral descendants.