I am not admitted in PA.  Was the money market a joint account?  Was there a Transfer on Death Form for securities? How about savings?  Were there POD (Payable on Death) forms filled out?  Were they left in a Trust?  Answering these questions will impact on an answer to yours.  I am guessing that she left a Will dividing the assets equally without any of the documents listed in my questions.  Then yes, you need to probate the Will.  The small estate procedure in PA is $25,000 and you are over that amount.

You pose a most interesting question about the law in Pennsylvania regarding probate and non-probate assets. Whether you will need to probate the Will or Estate in Pennsylvania to obtain access to the money market account or the savings account will depend on how the accounts are titled and whether there is any beneficiary designated. You would not need to probate if there is a beneficiary, as a beneficiary designation overrides the distribution scheme in the Will. To provide guidance as to whether you will need to probate the Will or the Estate based on how the accounts are titled, I would need to know how they are titled.

If you need to reach me, please contact Gail Marcus, Pennsylvania Estates Lawyer, 2 Penn Center Plaza, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102, at 215-751-0505.

Disclaimer -- The information posted is just that, general information and is not to be construed to be formal legal advice or to form a lawyer/client relationship with you. Each case is dependent on specific facts, and one change of fact can change the entire analysis. It is not intended that you rely on the answer that I have provided here, AND NOR SHOULD YOU RELY on what I have said here. YOU NEED TO SEEK LEGAL COUNSEL FOR A FORMAL LEGAL OPINION SPECIFIC TO YOUR FACTS.