Part XII
Reference
The Heirwise-specific vocabulary, an index of the forms and filings, what to do when something isn't working, and quick answers to the questions that come up most.
Heirwise vocabulary
Terms that mean something specific inside Heirwise. General Pennsylvania probate vocabulary — codicil, intestate, testator, Orphans' Court and the rest — is deliberately not defined here: those are legal terms, and you should take them from your attorney or from the Register of Wills rather than from a product guide.
- Phase
- One of Heirwise's three stages: become the legal executor, track assets and liabilities, then distribute and close. Moving between them requires every task in the current phase to be complete.
- Prerequisite
- A task another task depends on. Within a phase, this is what makes something available or greys it out — not the order it appears in the list.
- System check
- A task Heirwise evaluates against the estate's data rather than one you tick. You clear it by changing the underlying facts. A couple are exceptions you mark by hand, and those show a button.
- Liquidation status
- Where an asset stands on the way to being distributable: not liquid, pending sale, liquidated, or retain in-kind. The last two are the terminal states the Phase 3 check accepts.
- Payment status
- Where a liability stands: unpaid, pending approval, disputed, or paid. Only paid clears the Phase 3 check — disputed included, deliberately.
- Priority class
- The Pennsylvania payment-order class you assign to each liability, which drives the priority worksheet's ordering. You set it yourself; anything unassigned sorts last.
- Probate / non-probate asset
- Whether an asset counts toward the estate you are administering. Everything counts as probate property in Heirwise until you mark it otherwise — nothing is excluded automatically.
- Distribution plan
- The allocation of each asset to beneficiaries by percentage share. Must total 100% per asset. Locking it is what makes figures visible to beneficiaries.
- Information packet
- A ZIP of financials plus selected documents that Heirwise assembles for your attorney to draft from, used where a generated document would be false confidence — the RW-09 inventory and the family settlement agreement.
- Records archive
- The single ZIP produced by the last task in Phase 3: a financials workbook, your uploaded documents, and the generated forms. The artifact you keep after closing.
Forms and filings index
Every form and filing that comes up, what it's for, and who produces it.
Pennsylvania Register of Wills forms
| Form | Purpose | Who produces it |
|---|---|---|
| RW-02 | Petition for Grant of Letters — opens the estate and gets you appointed. | Heirwise fills it |
| RW-06 | Renunciation — an heir formally declines to serve as executor. | Heirwise fills it, one per person |
| RW-07 | Notice to beneficiaries under Rule 10.5. | Heirwise fills it, one per beneficiary |
| RW-08 | Certification of notice under Rule 10.8 — proof you sent the Rule 10.5 notices. | Heirwise fills it |
| RW-09 | Inventory of assets — the formal statement of what the estate holds. | Heirwise prepares a ZIP of financials plus selected documents (no bank statements); your attorney drafts it |
Tax filings
| Filing | Purpose | Who produces it |
|---|---|---|
| SS-4 | Application for the estate's EIN. Most executors use the IRS online assistant. | You, with the IRS |
| CP-575 / 147C | The IRS letter confirming the EIN. Upload it — it goes in the executor proof packet. | The IRS issues it |
| Form 1040 | The decedent's final personal income tax return, January 1 to date of death. | You or your accountant |
| Form 1041 | The estate's fiduciary income tax return, if it earned over $600 during administration. | You or your accountant |
| REV-1500 | Pennsylvania inheritance tax return. Heirwise neither prepares nor files it — upload a copy once it's filed. | You or your accountant |
Other documents
| Document | Purpose | Who produces it |
|---|---|---|
| Executor proof packet | Short certificate, death certificate, and EIN letter bundled for banks. | Heirwise assembles it |
| Final Distribution Schedule | Per-beneficiary breakdown of what each receives. Locks the plan when generated. | Heirwise generates it |
| Family settlement agreement | Beneficiaries settle the distribution and release you. | Heirwise prepares a packet; your attorney drafts it |
| Receipt and Release | Each beneficiary acknowledges their distribution and releases you. | Typically your attorney |
| Estate records archive | ZIP of the financials workbook, your uploaded documents, and the generated forms. The Final Distribution Schedule is not included — download it separately. | Heirwise generates it |
Rule 10.5 and Rule 10.8 refer to Pennsylvania Orphans' Court rules. RW-07 and RW-08 are the forms used to satisfy them, which is why you'll see both names for the same step.
Troubleshooting
Things that go wrong, and what to do. Where a fix belongs to a particular part of the guide, this points there rather than repeating it.
Documents and extraction
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| Document is stuck analyzing | Large files legitimately take longer. Navigate away and come back — it processes in the background rather than in the page. |
| Nothing was extracted, and no error | Treat it as a legibility problem. A poor scan can succeed with zero fields found rather than failing. Re-photograph it flat, in even light, whole page in frame — a flatbed scan beats a phone photo every time. |
| Extraction read something wrong | Correct it at the confirm step, or edit the value afterward. Your eyes on the original are the authority, and nothing is saved until you confirm it. |
| Uploaded the same document twice | Delete the duplicate document, then check the ledger — the second upload may have created a duplicate asset or debt, which deleting the document does not remove. |
Forms and packets
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| Can't generate a form | Something required is missing. Heirwise names the values it needs, using internal field names — open the review screen from the same row to fill them. If you're blocked repeatedly, the gap is usually a document you haven't uploaded yet. |
| Packet won't assemble | Heirwise names the item that isn't ready. Complete that, then reassemble. |
| Schedule download failed | Heirwise tries to unlock the plan again, but if that fails it will tell you to unlock manually. Do so before retrying, or you're left with a locked plan and no schedule. |
Money and gates
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| Balance sheet figures look wrong | Three usual causes: duplicate entries, an ownership percentage not set on a jointly-held asset, or something that passes outside probate still marked as probate property. Nothing is excluded automatically. |
| Distribution is locked, or a Phase 3 check won't pass | Work down the Phase 3 checklist — each condition is evaluated separately there, and the solvency banner only reports the first of the three. The guided workflow part explains what each check wants. |
| Was in Phase 3, now blocked | One of the three entry conditions regressed, most likely a newly-added liability. The checklist will show which. |
Elin and your account
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| Elin won't answer a question | If it's legal or tax advice, that refusal is by design — and the message names an attorney even for tax questions. Reframe toward what a term means or what your documents say. |
| Elin doesn't know about a document | Confirm it uploaded and finished processing. Elin can only read what's in the estate. |
| Hit the upload or message limit | Usage and the limit are shown in the app, though only once you've reached the cap. Upgrading raises them; see the pricing page. |
| Can't close the account | Close the estate first. Heirwise will say so if an estate is still open. |
Nothing here covers a legal question. If the problem is which debt to pay, how to read the will, or what to do about a contested claim, that's an attorney — not a troubleshooting step.
If something is genuinely broken rather than confusing, use the in-app help option and say what you were trying to do and what happened instead.
Quick answers
Questions that come up often enough to be worth answering in one line. Everything else is covered in the part it belongs to.
Does Heirwise file documents with the court for me?
No. It prepares and fills the forms and tells you what each needs — notarization, certified mail, originals. Filing with the Register of Wills is your step.
How long does probate take?
Usually at least a year, because the Pennsylvania creditor claim period alone typically runs a year from your advertisement. That is calendar time you cannot compress, which is why advertising early matters so much.
Can two people administer the same estate in Heirwise?
Not currently. Only one person can hold an estate — the only access you can grant to someone else is read-only beneficiary access to the portal. If you are serving alongside a co-executor, one of you keeps the estate and shares exports with the other.
Do I need a lawyer if I am using Heirwise?
For a straightforward solvent estate, many executors manage the process themselves. You should get counsel if the estate is insolvent, anyone contests the will, the will is ambiguous, a family settlement agreement is involved, or real property is being sold.
Does Heirwise work outside Pennsylvania?
It is not built for anywhere else. The forms, the phase sequence, the creditor-period rules, and the payment priority order are all Pennsylvania-specific, and nothing here has been checked against another state's procedure.
Is Heirwise a subscription?
No — premium is a one-time purchase. See the pricing page for the current price and what is included.
How do I get a copy of everything for my records?
Any single uploaded document downloads from the vault. For the bulk of it, the estate records archive produces one ZIP — see Getting documents out for what it does and does not contain.