Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Obviously the will would have been drafted by an incompetent attorney or else the person who died did his own will. No competent attorney would let something like this happen.

Assuming that the facts are as you describe, then what happens is that a partial intestacy will result. Thus, the will would govern the disposition of all assets as provided for in the will. To the extent the will is silent on the disposition of assets and contains no residue clause (a residue clause is a catchall provision that provides for the distribution of assets not otherwise mentioned) then the property not addressed by the will would be distributed as per the state intestacy law. In such case it would pass to the wife and children, if any.

However, this all assumes that the man had real estate titled solely in his name at the time of death. If he and his wife jointly owned any real property as a tenancy-by-the-entireties or as joint tenants with right of survivorship (basically as husband and wife) then the land would automatically pass as of the moment of death to the surviving spouse. In such case, the failure of the will to mention the land is not important because there is no land in the probate estate.