PRINTER'S NO. 55
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
81
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY CIRESI, ISAACSON, DELLOSO, HILL-EVANS, GALLOWAY,
SNYDER, SCHLOSSBERG, LONGIETTI, DeLUCA, ZABEL, SANCHEZ,
PASHINSKI, HOWARD, PISCIOTTANO, D. WILLIAMS, NEILSON, WEBSTER
AND McCLINTON, JANUARY 11, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, JANUARY 11, 2021
AN ACT
Amending Title 20 (Decedents, Estates and Fiduciaries) of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in dispositions
independent of letters, family exemption and probate of wills
and grant of letters, further providing for payments to
family and funeral directors.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 3101(e) of Title 20 of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
§ 3101. Payments to family and funeral directors.
* * *
(e) Unclaimed property.--
(1) In any case where property or funds owned by an
individual who has died a resident of this Commonwealth have
been reported to the Commonwealth and are in the custody of
the State Treasurer as unclaimed or abandoned property, the
State Treasurer, at any time after the death of the
individual, shall only be authorized under this section to
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distribute the property or to pay the amount being held in
custody to the first entitled person or class of people under
section 2103 (relating to shares of others than surviving
spouse) where all of the following conditions are present:
(i) The amount of the funds or the value of the
property is $11,000 or less.
(ii) The person claiming the property or the funds
is the [surviving spouse, child, mother or father, or
sister or brother of the decedent, with preference given
in that order.] first person or a member of the first
class of people entitled to claim property or funds under
section 2103.
(iii) A personal representative of the decedent has
not been appointed or five years have lapsed since the
appointment of a personal representative of the decedent.
(2) Upon being presented with a claim under paragraph
(1) for property owned by a decedent, the State Treasurer
shall require the person or class of people claiming the
property to provide all of the following prior to
distributing the property or paying the amount held in
custody:
(i) A certified death certificate of the owner.
(ii) A sworn affidavit under the penalties of 18
Pa.C.S. § 4904 (relating to unsworn falsification to
authorities) setting forth the relationship of the
claimant to the decedent, the existence or nonexistence
of a duly appointed personal representative of the
decedent [and], any other persons that may be entitled
under this section to make a claim to the decedent's
property[.] and a statement that the person is the first
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person or a member of the first class of people entitled
to claim property or funds under section 2103.
(iii) Other information determined by the State
Treasurer to be necessary in order to distribute property
or pay funds under this section to the proper person.
(3) If the State Treasurer determines the claimant to be
a person entitled to claim property of a decedent owner, the
State Treasurer shall pay or distribute such property to the
claimant and shall thereby be released to the same extent as
if payment or distribution had been made to a duly appointed
personal representative of the decedent and shall not be
required to oversee the application of the payments made. Any
claimant to whom payment is made shall be answerable
therefore to anyone prejudiced by an improper distribution or
payment.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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