Orphans’ Court Procedural Rules Committee Report

Amendment of Pa. O.C. Rules 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.5, 2.7, 3.5, 3.7, 4.3, 4.6, 5.1, 5.3, 

5.4, 7.1, 10.1, and 10.5, Amendment of the Index to the Appendix of Forms, 

and Rescission and Replacement of Forms OC-01 through OC-05

and RW-03 through RW-10

In 2015, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania adopted a substantial rewrite of the 

Orphans’ Court Rules with the rescission and replacement of Rules 1.1 through 13.3 and 

Rule 17, and amendment of Rules 14.1 through 16.12.1 Following the implementation of 

the rewritten Rules in 2016, members of the bench, bar, and members of the Orphans’ 

Court Procedural Rules Committee (“Committee”) shared comments and suggestions to 

refine further the Rules and Forms. The Committee reviewed these comments and 

suggestions, and, when necessitating more than a perfunctory change, published 

proposed amendments for public comment. See 48 Pa.B. 3571 (June 16, 2018); 48 Pa.B. 

1271 (March 3, 2018); 48 Pa.B. 728 (February 3, 2018); 48 Pa.B. 486 (January 20, 2018). 

The Committee made a recommendation to the Court, and the following Rule changes 

were made:

Rule 1.7: An Explanatory Comment was added to Rule 1.7 to clarify that the Rule 

does not address procedures for withdrawal of counsel before the Register of Wills, and 

that withdrawal of counsel before the Register shall be in accordance with local rule or at 

the discretion of the Register. 

Rules 1.8 and 10.1: Rules 1.8 and 10.1 were amended to eliminate nonsubstantive variations in style and format as the sole basis for rejection of an otherwise 

compliant filing. Forms may differ stylistically from the Supreme Court-approved forms

but must be identical as to content and ordering.

Rule 2.1: Rule 2.1(b)(4)(iv) sets forth the requirements for signature and 

verification pages, and currently requires the “signature and verification pages signed by 

all the accountants stating the Account and verified by at least one of the accountants.” 

The Rule was amended to delete “and verification” from that phrase so it is not 

inconsistent with the remainder of the sentence, which only requires verification “by at 

least one of the accountants.” 

Rule 2.5: Rule 2.5(a) was amended to establish that notice of the filing of the 

Account must also be provided to each co-fiduciary who does not join in the statement of 

Account. Rule 2.5(c) was amended to clarify that the reference to a “qualified beneficiary” 

in that Rule only applies to a distribution made to a trust. The phrase “having a charitable 

interest” was added to Rule 2.5(c) to describe more accurately an estate under this Rule. 

Rule 2.5(d) was amended to provide that a party residing outside the United States has 

60 days, rather than 20 days, in which to file an objection. Rule 2.5(d) was amended to 

 

1 See Order of December 1, 2015, No. 682, Supreme Court Rules Docket.
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clarify the “time and place” of the audit in Rule 2.5(d) by adding the word “date” to that 

phrase. Finally, the Explanatory Comment to Rule 2.5 was amended to explain that it is 

permissible for a party to waive the written notice required by the Rule.

Rules 2.7 and 3.7: These rules were amended to delete mailing requirements

and to add a cross-reference to the service requirements set forth in Rule 4.3.

Rule 3.5: The Note to Rule 3.5 was amended to eliminate the reference to 

subparagraph (d) of the Rule, which was deleted in the 2015 rewrite. The Committee did 

not publish this proposed amendment for public comment as it is of a typographical or 

perfunctory nature.

Rule 4.3: New subparagraph (f) was added to Rule 4.3 to establish a general 

requirement to attach a certificate of service to any legal paper filed or served pursuant 

to this Rule. 

Rule 4.6: The term “party” as used in Rule 4.6 was deleted and replaced with the 

defined term “interested party” to ensure that it was sufficient in scope to include those 

having an interest in the subject of the proceeding.

Rule 5.1: Rule 5.1, pertaining to declaratory judgment actions, and the Explanatory 

Comment thereto were amended to cross-reference Rule 3.5 regarding the use of 

citations when commencing a declaratory judgment action. 

Rules 5.3: In Rule 5.3(a)(3), the term “exemption” was deleted in favor of the term 

“share,” which is consistent with the title and text references to “statutory share” or 

“intestate share” throughout the Rule. The Committee did not publish this proposed 

amendment for public comment as it is of a typographical or perfunctory nature.

Rule 5.4: The term “vacating” was deleted in the title and subparagraphs (a)(4) 

and (a)(8) of the Rule. It was replaced with the term “vacation,” which is grammatically 

consistent with other terms used in the Rule. The Committee did not publish this proposed 

amendment for public comment as it is of a typographical or perfunctory nature.

Rule 7.1: “Subpoenas to attend and testify” were added to similar items listed in 

the Rule, such as “depositions, discovery, production of documents, and perpetuation of 

testimony.”

Rule 10.5: The term “outright beneficiary” was deleted from Rule 10.5(a)(1) and 

replaced with “beneficiary.” Rule 10.5(a)(8) was amended to require written notice of 

estate administration to the beneficiaries of an estate or trust when there is a shared 

fiduciary.
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Forms: The Index and Appendix of Orphans’ Court and Register of Wills Forms

was amended by eliminating the Estate Information Sheet, Form RW-01. The Estate 

Information Sheet, RW-012, is not a Supreme Court form, but rather a form promulgated 

and updated by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. It was maintained with the 

Register of Wills Forms in the Appendix and on the UJS website for public convenience.

Rather than continuing to update the form in response to changes by the Department of 

Revenue, the form is being removed from the Appendix and UJS website. A note has 

been added directing the public to the Department of Revenue website. 

 

Finally, a number of the forms used before the orphans’ courts and registers of 

wills have been rescinded and replaced to make the forms more useful to the public, 

bench, and bar. These changes include adding language to request a list of attachments, 

bolding titles, correcting typographical errors, updating online form completion functions, 

and revising notarial language. The revised forms are OC-01, OC-02, OC-03, OC-04, OC05, RW-03, RW-04, RW-05, RW-06, RW-07, RW-08, RW-09, and RW-10.

 

2 The current Estate Information Sheet is Department of Revenue form number REV-346 

EX (11-15).