20 Pa.C.S. § 712

This is the official text of 20 Pa.C.S. § 712, part of Pennsylvania’s Pa.C.S — part of the compiled statutory law of Pennsylvania, published by the state as "Pa.C.S." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Nonmandatory exercise of jurisdiction through orphans' court division.

Official statutory text

The jurisdiction of the court of common pleas over the following may be exercised through either its orphans' court division or other appropriate division:

(1) Title to real estate.--The determination of the persons to whom the title to real estate of a decedent or of the creator of an estate or trust has passed by devise or descent or by the terms of the trust instrument where jurisdiction of such estate or trust is exercised through the orphans' court division: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to restrict the provisions of section 711 (relating to mandatory exercise of jurisdiction through orphans' court division in general) relating to distribution of real estate in an estate or trust. If section 3546 (relating to determination of title to decedent's interest in real estate) applies, the procedures under that section shall govern. For other actions to quiet title to real estate, this section shall govern.

(2) Guardian of person.--The appointment, control and removal of the guardian of the person of any incapacitated person.

(3) Other matters.--The disposition of any case where there are substantial questions concerning matters enumerated in section 711 and also matters not enumerated in that section.

(4) Powers of attorney.--(Deleted by amendment). (Dec. 10, 1974, P.L.867, No.293, eff. imd.; July 9, 1976, P.L.551, No.135, eff. imd.; Apr. 28, 1978, P.L.77, No.37, eff.

60 days; Apr. 16, 1992, P.L.108, No.24, eff. 60 days; Dec. 1, 1994, P.L.655, No.102, eff. 60 days; Oct. 12, 1999, P.L.422, No.39, eff. 60 days; July 8, 2016, P.L.497, No.79, eff. Jan. 1, 2017) 2016 Amendment. Act 79 amended par. (1). 1999 Amendment. See section 13(8) of Act 39 in the appendix to this title for special provisions relating to applicability. 1992 Amendment. See section 21 of Act 24 in the appendix to this title for special provisions relating to applicability. Cross References. Section 712 is referred to in section 711 of this title.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.