Easton is the seat of Northampton County, created in 1752, and it is where Northampton County estates are opened. The Register of Wills and the Orphans’ Court are at 669 Washington Street.
Leeson & Co. is a Northampton County firm, at 70 E. Broad Street in Bethlehem, and this is the Register of Wills and Orphans’ Court we work with most. This page covers what is particular to estates here, including property and heirs across the river in New Jersey.
Which county your estate belongs to
Pennsylvania decides this by where the person lived, not by the town on the mail. Letters for a Pennsylvania resident’s estate can be granted only by the Register of Wills of the county where the person had their last family or principal residence (20 Pa.C.S. § 3151).
For this side of the Lehigh Valley, that county is Northampton. It takes in the City of Easton and the townships around it, including Forks, Palmer and Bethlehem Township. It also covers the Slate Belt boroughs of Bangor, Pen Argyl and Wind Gap, along with Nazareth and Hellertown.
Bethlehem is the exception, because the city sits in both Lehigh and Northampton counties. If the home was on the Lehigh County side, the estate is opened in Allentown instead. See Bethlehem is in two counties: where does your estate get filed?
What happens at 669 Washington Street
The Northampton County Register of Wills keeps estate records going back to 1752. It probates wills, grants letters to executors and administrators, and collects Pennsylvania inheritance tax. For what to bring and what you leave with, see our guide to the Northampton County Register of Wills.
Here the Register of Wills also serves as Clerk of the Orphans’ Court. Two parts of the court’s work are worth knowing about in advance:
- Court-confirmed accounts. An executor’s formal account can go before the Orphans’ Court for confirmation, where objections (called exceptions) are heard (see the audit-list question below).
- Incapacity. The Orphans’ Court Division’s docket also covers adjudications of incapacity, the guardianship cases families face when nobody has authority to act for someone who can no longer manage their affairs. The petition has to show that less restrictive alternatives were considered or tried, and why they are unavailable or insufficient (20 Pa.C.S. § 5511(e)). A power of attorney signed while you are well is the kind of planning that can keep a family out of that hearing.
Named executor? Our estate administration page sets out the whole job.
When the family, or the property, is in New Jersey
Easton sits on the Delaware, and plenty of families here have a shore house, a rental or children in New Jersey. Both states tax inheritances, and each reaches different property.
Pennsylvania’s inheritance tax applies to a resident’s real estate and tangible property located in Pennsylvania, and to their intangible property, such as bank accounts and stock, wherever it is held. New Jersey can tax a non-resident who dies owning New Jersey real estate or tangible property located there. It does not tax a non-resident’s New Jersey bank accounts or stock, and it has had no estate tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2018.
| Who inherits | Pennsylvania inheritance tax | New Jersey inheritance tax rates (beneficiary class) |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse | 0% | None (Class A) |
| Child or grandchild | 4.5% | None (Class A) |
| Brother or sister | 12% | First $25,000 exempt, then 11% rising to 16% (Class C) |
| Niece, nephew or friend | 15% | 15% on the first $700,000, 16% above (Class D) |
For a non-resident, these brackets are not simply applied to the house: New Jersey’s ratio methods compute the tax on the whole estate and charge the share the New Jersey property bears to it, and an optional simplified method takes a flat 15% of the New Jersey assets. The Division of Taxation says where the beneficiary lives is not a factor. The Pennsylvania discount and deadlines are in our guide to the Pennsylvania inheritance tax.
New Jersey property also brings its own paperwork:
- A return or a waiver. If everyone inheriting the whole estate is in New Jersey’s Class A or Class E, Form L-9 NR is filed to get the waiver the New Jersey real estate needs. Otherwise the non-resident return, Form IT-NR, is due eight months after death, a month before Pennsylvania’s tax becomes delinquent.
- Property held with a spouse. New Jersey real estate a married couple owns as tenants by the entirety is not taxable when the first spouse dies, and needs no return or waiver.
- A filing with a New Jersey surrogate. Under New Jersey law, a Pennsylvania probate takes effect over New Jersey real estate once an exemplified copy of the will, and of the letters where a sale depends on the executor, is filed and recorded with a New Jersey county surrogate (N.J.S.A. 3B:3-27). The Northampton County Register of Wills issues exemplified copies of its records. That filing is a New Jersey matter, and we coordinate with New Jersey counsel where it is needed.
How the property is held can change which state’s tax applies. Whether a shore house stays in your name, goes into a revocable trust or is held some other way, get advice on both states before anything is retitled.
What we do for Easton families
We prepare wills, trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare directives, plan for asset protection and for families with property in more than one state, and handle estate administration and probate in Northampton County. Every engagement starts with a written fee proposal before any work begins.
Frequently asked questions
My address says Easton, but I live in Forks Township. Where is my estate filed?
With the Northampton County Register of Wills in Easton. The county of your last family or principal residence decides it, and Forks, Palmer, Bethlehem Township and the City of Easton are all in Northampton County.
We own a shore house in New Jersey. Will our children owe New Jersey inheritance tax on it?
No. Children and grandchildren are Class A beneficiaries and pay no New Jersey inheritance tax. Unless the house was held with your spouse as tenants by the entirety, the estate still needs a New Jersey waiver, filed on Form L-9 NR when everyone inheriting from the whole estate, in either state, is Class A or Class E. If a brother, sister, niece or nephew inherits instead, New Jersey tax can apply.
Will my estate have to go through probate in New Jersey too?
There can be a New Jersey step if you die owning New Jersey real estate in your own name. With a will, the Pennsylvania probate takes effect over that real estate once an exemplified copy from the Register of Wills in Easton is filed and recorded with a New Jersey county surrogate. How the property is titled can change whether this is needed. We coordinate with New Jersey counsel on the New Jersey side.
What is the Orphans’ Court audit list?
When an executor files an estate account with the Orphans’ Court of Northampton County, the court lists it to be called for confirmation on a set date. At that hearing it hears any exceptions and directs how the balance is distributed.
Talk to an Easton estate planning attorney
The first conversation is straightforward. You tell us what you have, where it is and who you want it to go to. We tell you what that takes in Pennsylvania and flag what a New Jersey property or heir will add, so it can be coordinated with New Jersey counsel. Before any work begins, Leeson & Co. gives you a written fee proposal.
Joseph F. Leeson III trained and practiced as a CPA before he practiced law, with four years in tax accounting at an international public accounting firm and a large financial corporation. He holds a JD from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and an MBA in accounting from DeSales University, and was named to MSN’s Legal Powerlist: 2026’s Most Respected Lawyers. He was born and raised in Bethlehem.
This page explains general principles of Pennsylvania law and is not legal advice for your situation. New Jersey figures are as published by its Division of Taxation in October 2026. Please speak to us before acting on anything here.