Bonding Requirements

Surety bonds in probate are one of the most misunderstood — and most avoidable — costs in estate administration. Whether you need one, how much it costs, and whether the Register will exercise discretion in your favor depends on a set of rules that reward advance planning and penalize families who skip it.

The Statutory Framework — 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3171–3175

The default rule is simple: a personal representative may be required to post a surety bond before the Register will issue Letters. The bond protects the estate and its beneficiaries against the personal representative's potential misconduct — it's an insurance policy that the estate's assets won't be mismanaged or stolen.

But the statute carves out two major exemptions where bond is not required:

• PA Resident Exemption (§ 3174): If the personal representative is an individual Pennsylvania resident, bond is generally not required — even in intestate estates. This is the exemption that covers most Bucks County administrations.
• Will Waiver: If the will expressly excuses the personal representative from posting bond, the Register will honor that waiver. This is standard language in any competently drafted will — and its absence is a red flag that the will was either self-drafted or prepared by someone unfamiliar with PA practice.

When Bond Is Required — The Common Scenarios

Bond comes into play most frequently in these situations:

• Non-resident personal representative: If the named executor or administrator lives outside Pennsylvania, the PA resident exemption doesn't apply. This is the most common trigger in practice — a decedent's adult child who moved to New Jersey, Florida, or North Carolina gets named executor and suddenly faces a bond requirement the family didn't anticipate.
• Intestate estates with non-resident administrator: No will means no will waiver. Combined with non-residency, this guarantees a bond.
• Will doesn't waive bond: Older wills, homemade wills, and wills prepared by out-of-state attorneys frequently omit bond waiver language. The testator never knew it mattered. Now it costs the estate money.
• Corporate fiduciary declining to serve: If the named corporate executor (a bank trust department) renounces and the successor is a non-resident individual, the will waiver may or may not extend to the successor — this depends on the will's language.

The Register's Discretion

Here's what most people don't understand about bonding in Bucks County: the statute doesn't create a rigid binary. The Register has discretion in how bonding requirements are applied, and that discretion matters in several common situations:

• Marginal residency: A personal representative who recently moved out of state, maintains a PA mailing address, or splits time between PA and another state occupies a gray area. The Register's office may or may not treat this as "resident" depending on the facts presented. A PA driver's license, voter registration, or tax filing address can support the residency argument.
• All beneficiaries consent: When every beneficiary of the estate is an adult, competent, and signs a written consent waiving the bond requirement, the Register may exercise discretion to waive or reduce the bond — even where it would otherwise be required. This doesn't always work, but it's worth presenting the consents with the petition.
• Nominal estates: On a $15,000 estate where the only asset is a bank account and the sole beneficiary is the administrator's own mother, the Register may exercise discretion differently than on a $2 million estate with five competing heirs. The risk the bond is designed to protect against is functionally zero in the first scenario.
• Co-personal representatives — one resident, one not: If a resident and non-resident are appointed together, the Register may waive bond on the strength of the resident co-PR. Again, discretionary — not guaranteed.
• Counsel's relationship with the Register's office: This isn't favoritism — it's credibility. The Register's office processes thousands of estates. When counsel who regularly practices before the Register represents that a bond waiver is appropriate under the circumstances, the Register's office weighs that representation. An attorney who has demonstrated competence and integrity in prior administrations has standing to make the case for discretionary relief. This is one of the practical advantages of retaining local counsel for Bucks County probate.

Bond Amount — How It's Calculated

When bond is required, the amount is set at twice the value of the decedent's personal property (not real estate — personal property only: bank accounts, investments, vehicles, tangible personal property). If the decedent had no personal property (unusual but possible — e.g., real estate only), the bond is set at a flat $10,000.

The bond is issued by a corporate surety — an insurance company — and the estate pays an annual premium. Typical premiums run $5–$10 per $1,000 of bond amount. So on an estate with $250,000 in personal property:

• Bond amount: $500,000 (2× personal property)
• Annual premium: approximately $2,500–$5,000
• Duration: the bond continues until the Orphans' Court adjudication discharges the administrator and the surety — which means you're paying that premium every year the estate remains open

This is not a one-time cost. On a contested estate that takes three years to administer, the bond premiums alone can exceed $10,000.

The Real Estate Trap — Additional Security on Property Sales

If a bond is in effect and the personal representative needs to sell real estate, there's an additional step most people miss: a petition to the Orphans' Court for permission to enter additional security — or for an order excusing the fiduciary from filing additional security (20 Pa.C.S. § 3323(b)(3); Bucks County Local Rules 5.10D, 5.10E, 5.11C, 5.11D).

This petition must be filed before the sale proceeds are paid to the fiduciary by the purchaser. It must set forth the date of death, date of appointment, existing bond amount and surety, personal estate valuation, property description, purchaser name, and sale price. The court then either fixes additional security or excuses it.

Missing this step doesn't void the sale — but it puts the personal representative in a difficult position with the surety company and potentially with the court. Title companies handling estate sales should flag this, but not all of them do.

Bucks County-Approved Bonding Companies

The following bonding companies have provided their contact information to the Bucks County ROW:

• Seltzer Group Partners (formerly Steely & Smith) — 3662 Route 202, Doylestown, PA 18901, (215) 345-9410
• Anderson & Catania — Land Title Building, 100 S. Broad Street #1319, Philadelphia, PA 19110, (215) 563-1232
• Bond Ability, Inc. — BrieAnn Carola, 44 Kellen Ct., Birdsboro, PA 19508, (800) 818-3940
• W. Bruce Beaton Company, Inc. — 703 Lakeside Drive, Southampton, PA 18966, (215) 942-2800

You are not required to use these companies — any insurance agency authorized to do business in Pennsylvania may issue a probate bond (Pa.R.C.P. Rule 105). Shop rates — they vary significantly.

Bottom Line — Prevention Through Estate Planning

The best bond strategy is never needing one. A properly drafted will should:

• Expressly waive bond for the named executor and any successor
• Name a PA-resident executor as primary (even if the preferred person lives out of state, consider a PA-resident co-executor)
• Include broad fiduciary powers that reduce the need for court intervention and additional security petitions

If you're administering an estate that requires a bond, call us before you file the petition — there may be a discretionary argument worth making, and the time to make it is at the petition stage, not after the Register has already checked the "Bond Required" box on the decree.