Pennsylvania House Bill HB1091

Pennsylvania 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 4/1/25
• Refer: 4/1/25
• Refer: 6/17/25
• Report Pass: 9/10/25

Caption

In intestate succession, further providing for shares of others than surviving spouse.

Summary

HB1091 amends Pennsylvania’s intestate succession law, which governs how a person’s property is distributed when they die without a valid will. Under current law, if there is no surviving spouse and no closer relatives, the estate eventually passes to the Commonwealth. This bill changes that final fallback rule so that, instead of escheating to the state, the remaining estate would go to an endowed community fund serving the decedent’s final county of residence. The bill also defines the type of organization that may receive these funds. It requires the recipient to be a “community foundation” that has existed for at least 10 years, is a federally recognized 501(c)(3), supports a broad range of charitable activities, actively seeks endowment gifts, is publicly supported, has an independent governing body, maintains at least one employee, and undergoes an annual independent audit. An “endowed community fund” is defined as a perpetual fund held by such a foundation for charitable grants and benefits.

Impact

HB1091 would revise Title 20 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes by changing the last-resort distribution of intestate estates. The practical effect is to redirect property that would otherwise go to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to a local charitable endowment tied to the decedent’s final county of residence, while leaving the existing order of succession for spouses, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, and more distant relatives intact. The bill would therefore affect estate administration, county-based community foundations, and charitable endowment funds, and it could reduce the amount of unclaimed or escheated property received by the state.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests strong support for the bill in committee: the House Judiciary Committee reported it as committed by a unanimous 26-0 vote. No committee transcript is available, so there is no recorded floor or hearing debate to indicate broader disagreement. The unanimous committee vote suggests the proposal was viewed favorably, at least at that stage, as a charitable alternative to state escheat.

Contention

The main policy issue is whether intestate property with no surviving relatives should continue to go to the Commonwealth or instead be redirected to a local endowed community fund. Supporters are likely to favor keeping such assets in the decedent’s community for charitable use, while any concerns would center on the loss of state revenue, the fairness of diverting property away from the public treasury, and whether the bill’s eligibility criteria sufficiently ensure that recipient foundations are stable, independent, and representative of the public interest. Because the bill requires a qualifying community foundation in the decedent’s final county of residence, another possible point of contention is whether all counties will have an eligible recipient organization.