Your spouse will not automatically handle everything if you pass without a will

Marriage is not a power of attorney, and Pennsylvania intestacy does not leave everything to a spouse who has children. Beneficiary forms can override both.

“My spouse will handle it” is a kind sentence. It is not a legal rule.

It helps to split the problem in two. One is the year you are alive and cannot manage your affairs. The other is the year after you die. Marriage does not solve either one by itself.

Start with incapacity. If the house is in your name alone, your spouse cannot sell it or refinance it because you are married. If the brokerage account is in your name alone, the firm will not take instructions from your spouse. If a doctor is deciding whether to operate, your spouse is not automatically the decision-maker with a full right to the chart. Pennsylvania gives that authority through documents: a durable financial power of attorney, a health care power of attorney, a living will, and a HIPAA release. Without them, the fallback can be a guardianship proceeding in court. That is slower, more public, and more expensive than a set of signatures while you are well.

Joint accounts change the practical picture, and only for the joint assets. A convenience signer is not an owner. Tenants by the entireties is a real form of title between spouses, and it matters. Assuming every asset works that way is how families get stuck on the one account that does not.

Now death. If you die with a will, your executor still takes letters testamentary from the Register of Wills before acting on probate property. Being the spouse is not the same as being the executor, and being the executor is not the same as already owning the property.

If you die without a will, 20 Pa.C.S. § 2102 does not hand the intestate estate to the spouse whenever children exist. No children and no surviving parents: the spouse takes all. Spouse and children of that marriage: the spouse takes the first $30,000 plus one-half of the balance, and the children take the rest. Spouse and any child who is not also the spouse’s child: the spouse takes one-half, with no $30,000 preference. A blended family that “assumed she would get the house and sort it out” may instead co-own the probate estate with a child from a prior marriage.

Even with a will, a surviving spouse has statutory rights, including an elective share under 20 Pa.C.S. § 2203. A will that leaves everything to the children of a first marriage can be challenged by a later spouse. The point is not to draft from this paragraph. The point is that “my spouse” and “everything” are not synonyms the statute recognizes.

Then there are the assets that ignore both the will and the intestacy statute. Life insurance, IRAs, and 401(k)s follow the beneficiary form. An ex-spouse who is still named can take, even if the divorce decree and the new will say otherwise, if the form was never changed. A parent named at your first job can take ahead of the spouse you meant. Payable-on-death accounts do the same.

What closes the gap is ordinary. Title the house on purpose. Sign powers of attorney while you can. Name each other, then a backup, on the beneficiary forms. Write a will that matches the titles, and name an executor who can actually do the work. If there are children from more than one relationship, say so in the documents instead of hoping the kitchen-table version survives.

Your spouse may be exactly the right person for life, but the law still requires you to appoint them so they can act on your behalf and inherit all that you built together.

Sojourner Law, PLLC advises individuals and families on estate planning, and estate administration in Pennsylvania.

This article is general information about Pennsylvania law as of October 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Inheritance tax treatment depends on the asset, the title, and the beneficiary. Talk with a Pennsylvania estate planning attorney about your situation.