How to Make a Will in Pennsylvania (2026): Requirements, Witnesses, Self-Proving Affidavit

Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer for Pennsylvania: nobody publishes a reliable, state-specific median for what a will costs here, and the figures you will see quoted — including ours — are national. Anyone showing you a precise Pennsylvania number is estimating. What is genuinely Pennsylvania-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: Pennsylvania requires no witnesses for a will the testator signs at the end; two witnesses are required if the will is signed by mark or by another person for the testator.

Putting a loan in writing? The interest limit, the signing rules and the time limit to sue, from the state’s own statutes: Pennsylvania promissory note.

The honest position on Pennsylvania pricing

We publish a national attorney median for a simple will of $625 (middle 50% $450–$1,000) and a DIY platform range of $129–$599. Attorney figures are the national medians from the LegalTemplates 2026 survey of 909 firms, verified July 23, 2026. They are national, not state-specific. Geographic multipliers are widely republished, but the primary source for them blocks automated verification, so we will not apply one to Pennsylvania and present the result as a Pennsylvania figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.

What Pennsylvania law actually requires

This is the part that is genuinely state-specific, and the part that decides whether the document works at all. Every line below is read from the statute, with the citation attached:

• Witnesses: 0 if the testator signs; 2 if signed by mark or by another person. 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502
• If a beneficiary witnesses it: the rule could not be verified.
• Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502
• Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. 20 Pa.C.S. § 3132.1
• Handwritten (holographic) wills: no separate rule; a will in writing signed by the testator at the end satisfies 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502 without witnesses. 20 Pa.C.S. § 2502
• Electronic wills: not recognised. Title 20 has no Electronic Wills chapter (ch. 39 is Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets, a distinct subject)

The full 44-jurisdiction comparison is on what each state requires for a will to be valid. Whether a beneficiary may witness is covered nationally on can a beneficiary witness a will, and the notary question on does a will need to be notarised.

Does Pennsylvania give you a free form?

No. We found no complete statutory will form in the Pennsylvania code. California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin each print one in their own codes. In Pennsylvania your realistic routes are a DIY platform, a flat-fee attorney will, or an hourly engagement if the estate is complicated.

What skipping it costs in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania sets probate compensation using “reasonable” compensation with no percentage schedule. The two numbers that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold.

Fee basis: No statutory percentage. Compensation of personal representatives and attorneys must be ‘reasonable and just’ (20 Pa.C.S. §3537). Courts often reference the informal ‘Johnson estate’ percentage guideline schedule, but it is case-law custom, not statute.

Small-estate threshold: $50,000 gross value, exclusive of real estate and of property payable under § 3101, but including personal property claimed as the family exemption (20 Pa.C.S. § 3102).

A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Pennsylvania’s intestacy statute instead of by you, and it lets you name the executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one. The arithmetic on the other side is on what probate costs in Pennsylvania.

What a will costs nationally — every route priced, and the four situations where DIY fails.

Statutory text read at the state’s own legislature or official code site. Pricing figures are national and dated above. General information, not legal advice.