Surviving Spouse's Rights

• In Pennsylvania, when a married person dies without a will, the surviving spouse is entitled to a share of the estate. As of January 2011, if there are surviving children, and those children are the biological offspring of the surviving spouse, the spouse gets the first $30,000, in addition to one-half of the remaining estate. If the surviving children are not the biological children of the surviving spouse, the spouse receives only the first $30,000 and no more.
  
  

Surviving Children

• If there is no surviving spouse, Pennsylvania's intestacy laws require all of the estate go to a decedent's surviving children. If all surviving children are of equal relation --- or in the same degree of "consanguinity" --- they are entitled to equal shares of the decedent's estate.
  
  

Half-Blood and After-Born Children

• Half-blood children are entitled to the same share of a decedent's estate as whole-blood children. After-born children --- children conceived while the decedent was alive, but born after the decedent's death --- are entitled to the same share as children born during the decedent's lifetime.
  
  

Distribution with a Will

• A decedent may cut a surviving child out of a will. Pennsylvania laws place no obligation on a decedent to leave property or money to children. If a child is accidentally left out of a will, a probate court will presume the decedent meant to include that child. If a will expressly states that a child shall not receive any part of the decedent's estate, a probate court must abide by the decedent's wishes.