Pennsylvania timeline
Pennsylvania probate timeline and creditor deadlines
The waiting-period requirement has not been verified, so no number is published below.
Pennsylvania creditor deadlines are set out below against the event each one runs from.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.
The one date this page can source
No waiting-period number is published for the settlement of small estates on petition (20 pa.c.s. § 3102) route. Section 3102 states no fixed waiting period after death; settlement is available on petition once the gross value condition is met.
owning property (exclusive of real estate and of property payable under section 3101 (relating to payments to family and funeral directors), but including personal property claimed as the family exemption) of a gross value not exceeding $50,000, the orphans' court division20 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3102 — Pennsylvania General Assembly; (Dec. 10, 1974, P.L.867, No.293, eff. imd.; July 11, 1980, P.L.565, No.118, eff. 60 days; Dec. 1, 1994, P.L.655, No.102, eff. 60 days; July 2, 2013, P.L.199, No.35, eff. 60 days).
Creditor deadlines
- From publication of notice to creditors
- One year after the first complete advertisement of the grant of letters (§ 3532)
- From actual notice to a known creditor
- Claim known to the personal representative (§ 3532)
- Outer limit, running from death
- Claims against distributed property / against distributees (§§ 3532–3534)
How these combine. The Pennsylvania framework combines the personal representative's one-year at-risk period after the first complete advertisement of the grant of letters (20 Pa.C.S. § 3532) with separate provisions on claims against distributed property; there is no single statutory day count that safely summarizes creditor exposure.
unless the claim of such claimant is known to the personal representative within one year after the first complete advertisement of the grant of letters20 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3532 — Pennsylvania General Assembly; verified October 3, 2026.
General sequence: first week, how long probate takes.
Pennsylvania record: 3/3 verified, 10 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction