Probate Lists in Montgomery County, PA

A probate list for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania is a file of estates newly opened with the county's Register of Wills, matched to the decedent's property and the person handling it. Investors, wholesalers, agents and estate-service firms use it to find homes in transition. ListCentral.US offers it from $0.15 per record, in weekly or monthly files. Request a free sample.

At a glance: Montgomery County, PA probate lists

Coverage: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania only. The product label to look for is "Montgomery County, PA". It is not Montgomery County in Alabama, Maryland, Ohio or Texas.
Source: new estate filings in the county, compiled from public records.
Fields: decedent, case number, file date, property and mailing address, parcel, assessed value, petitioner or executor, attorney (full list below).
Format: CSV or Excel (.xlsx).
Refresh: ListCentral.US data is updated daily. Weekly files are refreshed by the close of Thursday. Monthly files also exist.
Price: from $0.15 per record. Single files in recent weeks ranged from $2.40 to $17.20, and one monthly file was $62.20.
Try first: the free sample page.

What a Montgomery County probate list contains

The columns below are taken from the newest Montgomery County, PA probate listing in the ListCentral.US store (October 12-18, 2026). Nothing else is promised. Each row ties one new estate to a house, so you can see who died, where the property is and who is acting.

County name and state
Filing date and case number
Deceased (decedent) name
Property address and owner mailing address
Parcel ID and assessed property value
Bedrooms, bathrooms, year built and property use
Petitioner, executor, administrator or survivor name, with address where available
Attorney name, with address where available

Phone numbers and email addresses are not in the file by default. Skip tracing can be added on request: Standard at $0.10 per record or Premium at $0.15 per record. DNC scrubbing is available on request. Details are on the skip tracing page.

How a probate case starts in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania runs estates through a county-level office, and in Montgomery County that office does two jobs at once. The county's own page names it the Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court, and says it probates wills and processes intestate estates, meaning estates without a will. Montgomery County is also the 38th Judicial District of Pennsylvania's court system, and the Orphans' Court Division sits within the Court of Common Pleas.

The Register of Wills opens the estate

An estate is opened in the county where the decedent lived at the time of death. The Register's probate page asks the filer for the original death certificate, the original will if there is one (photocopies and conformed copies are not accepted), and a list of next of kin with full addresses. When there is no will, the filer lists the assets with estimated values. The county encourages online e-filing for initial probates, and it still accepts in-person probates.

If the paperwork is in order, the Register issues the document that gives someone authority to act. With a will, that is letters testamentary, and the named person is the executor. Without a will, the Register issues letters of administration, and the person appointed is an administrator. The county's FAQ uses the same two terms. The executor or administrator can order short certificates, which are the proof of authority used to deal with the decedent's assets.

Who gets appointed

With a will, Pennsylvania law lets the executor named in it receive the letters. Without one, 20 Pa.C.S. § 3155 sets an order of priority: first those entitled to the residuary estate under a will if any, then the surviving spouse, then the heirs the Register judges best able to administer, with larger shares preferred, then creditors and other fit persons. The county's page says the same in plain terms: the spouse has first rights to apply, and a person with a right to apply can sign a renunciation if they decline. An administrator who lives out of state may be asked for a surety bond.

For a list user, this matters because the person on the record is not always an adult child. It may be a spouse, a more distant relative or a professional, and your first letter should fit the relationship that the file shows.

The legal advertisement

Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3162, the personal representative must publish notice of the grant of letters right after they are issued. The notice goes in a newspaper of general circulation near the decedent's residence and in the legal periodical designated by court rule, once a week for three successive weeks. It names the representative, asks creditors to present claims and asks debtors of the estate to pay. We did not confirm which publication Montgomery County has designated, so check the Register's office if you want to use the notices as a second source.

Orphans' Court and the audit list

When an accounting is filed for review, it goes to the Orphans' Court Division. The county posts "Audit List" notices as PDFs. The July 2026 notice we read says accounts were filed with the Register of Wills or Clerk of the Orphans' Court Division, scheduled for a virtual hearing, and lists estates by decedent name, file number and the fiduciary who filed. That is a public notice of accounts, not a list of new estates, so it is a different record from the one in a probate list.

Pennsylvania inheritance tax

The Register also acts as the county's agent for the Pennsylvania inheritance tax. For a resident decedent, the county says the return is filed in duplicate with the Register of Wills, and its FAQ says the office only handles the filing and payment, not preparing the return. The Department of Revenue states the tax rates by relationship: 0 percent for a surviving spouse and for a parent receiving from a child aged 21 or younger, 4.5 percent for direct descendants and lineal heirs, 12 percent for siblings and 15 percent for other heirs, with exemptions for charities and some other transfers. The tax becomes delinquent nine months after death, and a 5 percent discount applies to payment within three months.

Selling a house that belongs to an estate

Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3311, the personal representative generally has the right and the duty to take possession of, maintain and administer the decedent's real and personal estate, with limited exceptions. Under § 3353, a sale of estate property needs an Orphans' Court order in certain situations, for example when the will denies the power to sell or the sale should have the effect of a judicial sale. Whether a particular estate needs court involvement depends on the will and the facts. Expect to deal with the representative's attorney on some deals.

Where Montgomery County probate records live, and what is free or paid

The records are public. The Register's FAQ says all records are available to the public unless impounded, and gives 610-278-3400 for more information.
Online case search. The Register's page links to a "Find a Case" search at the county's courts application. The page does not say that every field is searchable or whether any charge applies, and the site did not load from our tools, so open it yourself to see what it returns.
Office filings cost money. The county's 2026 bill of costs lists a probate petition fee that rises with the estimated gross probate value (from $50 for estates up to $5,000, with additional county and state charges), a $15 short certificate, and $1.00 per page for imaging. It also lists a research service with a $40 minimum fee for up to one hour. Those are the fees for the people opening or copying an estate, not for reading a free public notice.
Property data is separate. Matching a decedent to a parcel, assessed value and mailing address is a separate step.

The public material is real and free to look up, but building a weekly list from it means checking new filings, finding the property, deduplicating and formatting. A prepared file covers that process so your time goes to the outreach.

Who buys probate lists in Montgomery County and how they use them

Typical buyers are real estate investors, wholesalers, listing agents, estate-cleanout and senior-transition services, and marketers who work for attorneys. A simple weekly workflow looks like this:

Download the newest weekly or monthly Montgomery County, PA file and import it into your CRM.
Remove the records outside your target area, price range or property type.
Sort by what the file actually shows (see the next list).
Send a short, respectful first letter or postcard to the petitioner, executor or administrator named on the record.
Follow up on a calm schedule, and log the answers.
Route sellers who want help to a call, and route attorneys to a polite introduction.

How to prioritise using only the file's fields

Filing date: newer filings are the freshest contacts, before the family has had time to settle on a plan elsewhere.
Property use, bedrooms, bathrooms and year built: match the house to the kind of project you buy.
Assessed value: narrows the list to your price band. It is the county's assessed figure, not a market appraisal.
Owner mailing address versus property address: when they differ, the home may be unoccupied, which can change how you approach it.
Petitioner and attorney: tells you who to address and whether a lawyer is involved.
Parcel ID: lets you join the record to your own tax, lien or ownership data.

Probate list pricing in Montgomery County, PA

ListCentral.US prices probate files per record, from $0.15 per record. The one-time price of a file is the number of records multiplied by the per-record rate, and the rate comes down with a weekly or monthly subscription, a bundle of counties or list types, larger volume, or a discount code. We do not quote subscription prices here, so see the subscriptions page and the combo deals page. Skip tracing is an optional add-on: Standard at $0.10 per record, Premium at $0.15 per record.

These are the most recent Montgomery County, PA probate listings in the store at the time of writing. They are examples of dated listings, not a guarantee of future volume or price.

Listing period (2026)	Type	Records	One-time price
Oct 12-18	Weekly	12	$2.40
Oct 5-11	Weekly	17	$3.40
Sep 28-Oct 4	Weekly	30	$6.00
September	Monthly	311	$62.20
Sep 21-27	Weekly	72	$14.40
Sep 14-20	Weekly	86	$17.20

Prices in the table are the single-file prices shown on those listings. To see current prices and the newest period, open the probates collection or search the store for Montgomery County.

Worked example (illustration, not market data)

Suppose a file holds 100 records and your plan reaches the $0.15 per record rate. The file price is 100 x $0.15 = $15.00. Add Standard skip tracing at $0.10 per record and that is 100 x $0.10 = $10.00 more, so the all-in figure is $25.00. A Premium trace would be 100 x $0.15 = $15.00 instead. This is arithmetic for planning, and your own result depends on the plan and file you choose.

Compliance and respectful outreach

This is general information, not legal advice. Contact with a grieving family should be brief, kind and honest.

Write to the person named as petitioner, executor or administrator, and address the situation without assuming what they want.
Before calling or texting, check federal Do Not Call and TCPA consent rules and any state or local rules that apply to you. DNC scrubbing is available from us on request.
Honour every opt-out immediately, across every channel you use.
Follow fair housing rules in who you choose to contact and what you say.
Do not give legal or tax advice. Point families to the estate's attorney for those questions.

Common mistakes

Writing to "the owner" when the record shows the representative or the attorney.
Mailing too soon, too often or with pressure language.
Treating assessed value as a market price.
Assuming Montgomery County, PA is the same as Montgomery County in Maryland or another state.
Confusing the audit list, which covers accounts, with a list of new estates.

Public records yourself, a prepared file, or a national platform

Option	What you do	Best for
Public records yourself	Check new estates with the Register, find each property, match owners, build the file	One-off research on a few names
Prepared county file (ListCentral.US)	Download a weekly or monthly Montgomery County, PA file already tied to property and executor details	Steady outreach in one county without the manual work
National subscription platform	Filter a nationwide database yourself under a recurring plan	Many states and many lead types in one tool

We have not compared other providers' prices here, so check their current terms directly. ListCentral.US covers 2,000+ US counties, and you can buy what you need, when you need it.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a probate list cost in Montgomery County, PA?

ListCentral.US prices probate files from $0.15 per record. Recent Montgomery County, PA weekly files listed between $2.40 and $17.20, and a September monthly file listed at $62.20. The file price is records times the per-record rate, with lower rates through a subscription, bundles, volume or discount codes.

What is a probate list?

It is a file of newly opened estates in one county, with the decedent, the case number, the property and the person handling the estate. In Montgomery County, PA, the estates are opened with the Register of Wills. Investors, agents and estate-service firms use it to reach families early.

Where are probate cases filed in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania?

With the Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court, whose office is at One Montgomery Plaza in Norristown. The estate is opened in the county where the person lived at death. Later reviews of accounts go to the Orphans' Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas.

What is the difference between letters testamentary and letters of administration?

Letters testamentary are issued when the person died with a will, and the person appointed is the executor. Letters of administration are issued when there is no will, and the person appointed is the administrator. The Register of Wills issues both after reviewing the filing.

Are Montgomery County probate records public?

The Register of Wills says all records are available to the public unless impounded. Some records may be sealed, so a specific estate can differ. The county lists 610-278-3400 for questions about access. The county also provides an online case search, which you can open to see what it shows.

Is it legal to contact people from a probate list?

The records are public, but how you contact people is regulated. Check federal Do Not Call and TCPA rules, any state and local rules that apply to you, and fair housing rules. Keep outreach respectful and honour opt-outs. This is general information, not legal advice. Ask your own attorney about your campaigns and scripts.

How often is the Montgomery County, PA probate list updated?

ListCentral.US data is updated daily. Weekly files are refreshed by the close of Thursday, and each weekly file covers only the records new or updated in that week. Monthly files also exist. The listing shows its exact period, so you can see how fresh the file is.

What is included in the file?

County and state, filing date, case number, decedent name, property address, mailing address, parcel ID, assessed value, bedrooms, bathrooms, year built, property use, and petitioner, executor or administrator and attorney names with addresses where available. Phone numbers and emails are not included by default.

Can I get a free sample first?

Yes. The free sample page and the Probates sample data format show the columns before you buy. You can also browse the data formats collection, or email info@listcentral.us. Look at the sample first so the layout fits your CRM or mail merge.

Does the list include phone numbers or emails?

Not by default. Skip tracing can be added on request, at $0.10 per record for Standard or $0.15 per record for Premium. DNC scrubbing is available on request. Ask before you order so the add-on is included with your file, and check your plan for the per-record total.

Does Pennsylvania charge inheritance tax on estates?

Yes. The Department of Revenue lists rates of 0 percent for a surviving spouse, 4.5 percent for direct descendants and lineal heirs, 12 percent for siblings and 15 percent for other heirs, with some exemptions. It becomes delinquent nine months after death. Ask a tax professional about a specific estate.

Can an executor sell an estate's house?

Often, but it depends on the will and the facts. Pennsylvania law gives the personal representative a duty to take possession of and administer estate property, and a court order is needed to sell in certain situations, such as when the will denies the power. The estate's attorney can say which applies.

Is this list for Montgomery County in Pennsylvania or another state?

Pennsylvania only. Use the exact label "Montgomery County, PA" when you search the store. There are other Montgomery Counties in Maryland, Alabama, Ohio, Texas and elsewhere, and their courts, offices and files are different, so check the state on the listing before you buy.

Can I buy more than one county or list type?

Yes. ListCentral.US covers 2,000+ US counties, and bundles of several counties or list types can qualify for lower per-record rates. See the combo deals page and the subscriptions page, or ask by email before ordering a larger set. Buy what you need, when you need it, and a single file needs no subscription.

Sources

Montgomery County, PA: Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court
Montgomery County, PA: Probate
Montgomery County, PA: Wills: Frequently Asked Questions
Montgomery County, PA: Filing Inheritance Tax
Montgomery County, PA: Register of Wills Bill of Costs, effective January 1, 2026
Montgomery County, PA: Audit List Notice, Orphans' Court Division, July 2026
Montgomery County, PA: County Courts (38th Judicial District)
Montgomery County, PA: Find a Case (Register of Wills case search)
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue: Inheritance Tax
Pennsylvania General Assembly: 20 Pa.C.S. § 3155, § 3162, § 3311, § 3353
ListCentral.US: Montgomery County, PA probate listings (October 12-18, 2026 and earlier), read from the store catalog

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