Pennsylvania § 3357 - Title of purchaser.

§ 3357. Title of purchaser.

(a) General rule.--If the personal representative has given such bond, if any, as shall be required in accordance with this title, any sale, mortgage, or exchange by him, whether pursuant to a decree or to the exercise of a testamentary power or of a power under this title, shall pass the full title of the decedent therein, unless otherwise specified, discharged from the lien of legacies, from liability for all debts and obligations of the decedent, from all liabilities incident to the administration of the decedent's estate, and from all claims of distributees and of persons claiming in their right, except that no such sale, mortgage or exchange by a personal representative, unless made under section 3353 (relating to order of court) for the purpose of divesting a lien existing at the decedent's death, shall divest the interest of a bona fide grantee of, or a holder of a lien on, real property of the decedent who has acquired such interest for value under a prior recorded document from or through those entitled to the interest of the decedent in the real property by will or by intestacy, either:

(1) more than one year after the death of the decedent and when no letters issued in the Commonwealth upon the decedent's estate were in effect; or

(2) within such year if no letters upon the decedent's estate have been issued in the Commonwealth during that year.

(b) Effect of certain circumstances.--Persons dealing with the personal representative shall have no obligation to see to the proper application of the cash or other assets given in exchange for the property of the estate. Any sale or exchange by a personal representative pursuant to a decree under section 3353 shall have the effect of a judicial sale, but the court may decree a sale or exchange freed and discharged from the lien of any mortgage otherwise preserved from discharge by existing law, if the holder of such mortgage shall consent by writing filed in the proceeding. No such sale, mortgage, exchange, or conveyance shall be prejudiced by the terms of any will or codicil thereafter probated or by the subsequent revocation of the letters of the personal representative who made the sale, mortgage, exchange, or conveyance if the person dealing with the personal representative did so in good faith.

(July 9, 1976, P.L.551, No.135, eff. imd.)

Cross References. Section 3357 is referred to in section 8152 of Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure).