There are several circumstances under which notice must be given to the Attorney General of Pennsylvania:

• When a will has been probated that includes gifts to charities of more than $25,000, or which will not be be paid in full, notice must be given to the AG in accordance with Pa.O.C. Rule 10.5(a)(6).
• When a will has been probated that includes gifts to any governmental beneficiary, notice must be given to the AG in accordance with Pa.O.C. Rule 10.5(a)(7).
• If there are no other intestate heirs, then the Commonwealth is a statutory heir under 20 Pa.C.S. 2103(6), and the AG would then need to receive notice in accordance with Pa.O.C. Rule 10.5(a)(7). (The instructions to REV-1513–Schedule J of the inheritance tax return–say that “Commonwealth of PA, Statutory Heir” should be listed in Section II, Part B, “Charitable and Governmental Distributions.”)
• In any Orphans’ Court proceeding involving or affecting a charitable interest (other than a pecuniary gift of $25,000 or less that has been or will be paid in full), at least twenty days advance written notice must be given to the AG in accordance with Pa.O.C. Rule 4.4.  Also, Pa.O.C. Rule 2.5(c) requires that notice of the filing of an account be given to the AG if proposed distributions are to an estate or trust of which a charity is a “qualified beneficiary.”
• Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 7710(d), the Office of Attorney General has the rights of a charitable organization named in trust instrument, including the right of notice of any proceeding or nonjudicial settlement agreement, which should include any notice that may be required to the charitable beneficiaries of a trust under 20 Pa.C.S. § 7780.3 if the settlor died or was adjudicated incapacitated.  See also, 20 Pa.C.S. § 7735(c) (enforcement of charitable purposes).
• There are sections of the PEF Code (Title 20 of the Pa. Consolidated Statutes) requiring notice or consent of the AG under specific circumstances, such as § 7203 (charitable trusts having voting control of certain publicly traded business corporations), § 7740.3(d) and (e) (termination of small charitable trusts), § 7764(d) (filling vacancy in trusteeship of charitable trust), and § 7799.3(d) (annual report of pooled trusts for individuals with disabilities).

The main office of the Attorney General is 14th Floor, Strawberry Square, Harrisburg, PA 17120.  However, the Charitable Trusts and Organizations Section has three regional offices, and it is better practice to send notices relating to charitable interests to those regional offices. The Philadelphia Estate Practitioner’s Handbook suggests that the Philadelphia practice is to send the notice relating to governmental interests to the same regional offices that receive notices of charitable interests, and it seems appropriate that the same officers representing the interests of charities in estates and trusts should also represent the interests of the Commonwealth in estates, but there is no specific authority for that conclusion.

The addresses of the regional offices are as follows:

[Updated on 3/10/2017 to conform citations to the Pa. O.C. Rules that became effective 9/1/2016.  Updated on 11/4/2019 due to changes in URLs for Pa.O.C. Rules.  Updated on 9/23/2020 to revise addresses for Eastern and Western offices.]