Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

More information is needed to answer this question. How is the 100 acre property held? The deed language would dictate who receives the property at his death. 100% of the property may pass to the ex-spouse ("mom") if it was held as Joint Tenants with right of survivorship; however, if the deed states Tenants by the Entirety or Tenants in Common, his half interest would pass to his estate.

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It sounds like mom and dad owned the 100 acres as a tenancy by the entireties or joint tenancy with right of survivorship. If the former, divorce severed the tenancy by the entireties and turned it into a joint tenancy. In such case, there has to be words of survivorship specifically written into the deed. For example, the deed would say from owner to husband and ex-wife, or the survivor of them or with rights of survivorship.

If there is no magic survivorship language at all, then they are joint tenants and each owns 50% of the 100 acres. When one of them dies, the survivor owns 50 acres and the estate of the dead person will get the other 50 acres for distribution with the dead person's estate.

Regarding the 3 acres on which dad lives, its only in dad's name and dad has divorced mom. Mom does not get the 3 acres if it is on a separate deed.

Before dad dies with a mess on his hands, he needs to figure out how to get mom's name off his 100 acres. He may have to out mom depending on what the property is worth. And dad definitely needs to see an estate planning lawyer. Wills are not that expensive and there is no excuse. The few hundred dad thinks he is saving is going to cost far more than that in legal fees if dad dies without a will and mom comes sniffing around for what she hopes will be an inheritance since she owns at least half of the 100 acres. He needs to see an estate planning/probate/real estate lawyer now.