Pennsylvania's recorded instrument, Affidavit affecting the title to real estate, rests on the general recording statute for affidavits of facts affecting title to land. What a recorded affidavit does, in the statute's words: Admissible evidence of the facts stated, insofar as they affect title to real estate, provided a member of the bar of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has signed an appended certification that he or she relied on the affidavit in passing on the titleAct of Nov. 5, 1981, P.L. 328, No. 118, § 1Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. It is evidence of the facts it states, not a deed; it does not itself transfer title, and a purchaser, lender or title company decides whether to rely on it.
In the Office of the Recorder of Deeds or Commissioner of Records in the county in which such real estate is situatedAct of Nov. 5, 1981, P.L. 328, No. 118, §§ 1, 3Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. The office records it as it records deeds, in the county where the land lies, and charges its recording fee per page. The page is laid out to Pennsylvania's recording standard: a 3-inch clear top margin on the first page, 1-inch side margins, type no smaller than 10 pointsAct of Dec. 17, 1986, P.L.1685, No.197, § 1Verified Sep 25, 2026View source.
It depends on what the person owned and how it was titled. Property with a named beneficiary, joint property with survivorship, and property in a trust pass outside probate. What remains goes through probate unless it is under the state's small estate limit, in which case a small estate affidavit collects it. The Probate Decision Tool applies your state's rules.
When the estate's value is under the state's limit and the state's waiting period after the death has passed. The limit and the period differ by state, and several states run the small estate as a court process rather than an affidavit. The builder checks the estate against your state's limit before it produces the document.
It records who the heirs are when no estate was administered, so that real property can be dealt with in the county land records. It is a sworn statement of the decedent's family history, laid out to the state's recording rules. It does not itself transfer title.