Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

I am assuming that the will was made in 1998 and divorce occurred after this. in that case, in most states, divorce of parties revokes any dispositions in favor of a former spouse. What this means is that the former wife would be treated as having died before the husband.

You ask about what happens. That depends on how the will was written. A properly drafted will (which is one done by a reasonably competent attorney) would have named a contingent beneficiary as well as a contingent executor. In such case, just look at the will and see who is named as a successor and beneficiary.

If the will does not name a successor executor, then anyone can serve, with the preference being any children of the deceased. I assume that the man had at least one son from your post. If there is more than one child, then all the children should discuss which of them is better suited to being personal representative of the estate (the person is now called the administrator if they are not named in the will; but the job duties are the same - basically, to figure out what the deceased owned and owed, pay the just debts and provide for the orderly transfer of assets to the living heirs/beneficiaries).

If the will does not name a contingent beneficiary and there is no residue clause, then an intestacy will result. This means that the deceased will be treated as if he died with no will and his assets will pass as per the state intestacy laws. The preference in the intestacy laws is to a living spouse, if any, and the children. You indicate that the man divorced the first wife so she cannot inherit, but you do not indicate if the man remarried,. If he remarried, his current wife and children would split the estate,. If he was single and had not remarried, then his assets would pass to his children in equal shares if there is more than one. I will not address further distribution because it appears that the man had at least one child as noted.

The only other possible outcome would be if the man made the will in 1998 but divorced sooner. In that case, the former wife could inherit but that does not seem likely on the facts here.

The other option could be that there does not need to be a probate but that would depend on what assets the deceased owned, how the assets were titled and what debts existed.

Your son-in-law needs to go and see a probate attorney who practices in the county/state where his father lived prior to death. Take the will and have him pay the probate attorney for review and discussion of what needs to be done given the language in the will and the asset/debt situation.