Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Maybe the person was kidnapped and held hostage by alien lizards from another planet?

Seriously, no attorney can answer a question about why a personal representative would wait 7 years. A better question to ask would be why the beneficiaries ALLOWED this to occur. Surely at least one of them knew of the death? After 6 months, why did none of them contact a lawyer and see about probate if the named personal representative was not making a move to probate the will?

And why bother to probate an estate now? If there are no debts outstanding of the deceased or unless there are some other facts, I am not sure why this has to be probated now or what would be accomplished by probate unless its somehow required by law or other circumstances. However, I am not aware of any time limits for probate and this can be adjudicated now. I do have a problem with one sibling asking the others to deed over land without knowing the equity value of the land. If one person wants the land, that is fine, but he needs to buy out the shares of the others unless there is absolutely no value to them.

Regarding land, it is not necessary to probate the estate. If the deceased left land to more than one person, those benefiicaries who want the land should buy out the shares of those who do not. If the beneficiaries cannot agree on a value for the property, then any of the beneficiaries can bring what is called a partition action. In the partition action, the land will be divided if it is capable of being divided. In most cases it isn't and in that instance, the property will be sold off at a private or public sale to the highest bidder. The sale proceeds will then be divided among the heirs/beneficiaries of the property. Things like payments of the taxes, mortgage, insurance, maintenance and rental value of the property will all have to be factored in to arrive at the correct value of who owes what.

I have questions about what is really going on and what led to the post. My advice would be that if you received some sort of papers regarding probate of an estate in PA, that you find a probate lawyer who practices in the county where the estate is probated. Pay the attorney for a 30-60 minute consult and allow him/her to review the papers that you or the other heirs have received.