Pennsylvania Statutes Title 72 P.S. Taxation and Fiscal Affairs § 9192. Entry without notice to department

(a) A safe deposit box of a decedent may be entered and any or all of the contents removed in the presence of an employe of the financial institution in which the box is located. The employe shall make, or cause to be made, a record of the contents of the box, which record he shall attest under penalty of perjury to be correct and complete. The financial institution may make a reasonable charge for the attendance of its employe at the entry of the box and the listing of the contents, which charge shall be deductible as an administration expense under subclause (1) of section 2127.  1

(b) A safe deposit box of a decedent may be entered and any or all of the contents removed in the presence of a representative of the department authorized by the secretary. The department shall authorize at least one such representative in and for each county of this Commonwealth. The representative present at the time of entry into the box shall make or cause to be made a record of the contents of the box.

(c) The court for cause shown may order that a designated person or persons be permitted to enter a safe deposit box of a decedent and remove the contents described in the order, under supervision as the court may direct. The order may also require that a record be made of the contents of the box.

(d) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this part, the department, at any time and without relation to the death of a specific decedent, by a certificate issued to a firm whose business requires ready access to safe deposit boxes, may issue a general authorization for the entry into, and removal of the contents of, a safe deposit box of a decedent, under terms and conditions as it may prescribe. A financial institution may permit such entry and removal upon presentation to it of such certificates issued by the department.

(e) Nothing in this part shall prohibit a financial institution from permitting entry into a safe deposit box of a decedent for the sole purpose of removing the decedent's will and evidence of ownership of the burial lot in which the decedent is to be interred. An employe of the financial institution must be present at the opening of the box and make or cause to be made a record of the documents removed from the safe deposit box during the entry and attest the record to be correct and complete under penalty of perjury.