Philly Register of Wills Tracey Gordon is facing primary challengers. Here’s what to know about the office and who is running

Philadelphia voters interact with the Register of Wills Office if someone gets married or someone dies. But despite its role in important life events, the office has gotten little attention ahead of this year’s Democratic primary, amid crowded mayoral and City Council races.

Incumbent Tracey Gordon is facing three challengers — Elizabeth Hall Lowe, Rae K. Hall, and John Sabatina — in the May 16 Democratic primary. The winner is likely to win the general election in November, given Democrats’ voter registration edge in the city. Linwood Holland, the Republican leader of the 35th Ward, is the only candidate running in the GOP primary.

Here’s a snapshot of what the register of wills does and who is running to lead the little-known row office.

The register of wills issues marriage licenses, maintains marriage records, authenticates and approves wills, and is responsible for the maintenance of innumerable physical historic documents dating from before the country began.

The office distributes the assets of a person who died with a will. If someone dies without a will, the register’s office goes through a legal process to identify the next of kin and appoints them to manage the estate’s assets.

Under Tracey Gordon, the current register of wills who is running for reelection, the office has drawn attention to the issue of rectifying tangled titles. Tangled titles occur when a homeowner dies without a will. Their family members don’t own the property if their names aren’t on the property’s deed. Too often, those properties are or become tax-delinquent and are lost to sheriff’s sale.

Gordon surprised the political establishment in 2019 when she defeated former Register of Wills Ron Donatucci, who’d held the position for more than 40 years, in the Democratic primary.

Gordon has been a deputy city commissioner and a four-time political candidate. She ran unsuccessfully for City Council, city commissioner, and state representative before winning the election for register of wills. Gordon, 60, has also been a committeeperson in Southwest Philadelphia, a position she sued to retain after the ward leader and party boss Bob Brady opposed her appointment. She won the register of wills race without the backing of the Democratic party.

The signature of her tenure has been her work to address Philadelphia’s tangled titles — a problem that threatens $1.1 billion in household wealth, according to Pew Charitable Trusts. Gordon has suggested that clearing the titles could help improve blight and decrease gun violence. Subsequently, City Council passed a $7.6 million initiative to clear tangled titles.

At a Council budget hearing, Gordon said her office has helped 45 families clear tangled titles and referred 260 cases to legal nonprofits to date. A study from Pew Charitable Trusts found 11,000 cases of tangled titles in the city.

She also launched a citywide educational tour to teach residents about estate planning.

Gordon has faced controversies in her first term. She hired and then let go of a beleaguered political consultant, and caught heat for allowing her daughter to sell Eagles merchandise ahead of the Super Bowl. Most recently, an ex-employee accused Gordon of firing him because he wouldn’t contribute to her campaign.

If reelected, Gordon said, she plans to expand her tangled title education efforts and digitize the thousands of historical records that the office currently stores in a building on Spring Garden Street. She’s been endorsed by several wards and municipal employees union District Council 33.

Hall Lowe, 31, is a scientist who works in global compliance for GlaxoSmithKline. She said she is running for register of wills because she believes the office needs a complete overhaul to be brought into the 21st century.

Hall Lowe said she’d digitize the office’s historical records and create a searchable database. She also would establish neighborhood-based satellite offices where community members could ask questions or make appointments without having to travel to Center City.

She doesn’t have any government or political experience, but Hall Lowe said her professional experience dealing with international compliance policy is transferable.

Before working at GlaxoSmithKline, Hall Lowe worked in a similar capacity for the University of Pennsylvania’s gene therapy program. She lives in North Philadelphia.

South Philadelphia native Hall, 51, has worked in city government for nearly two decades, including in the register of wills office.

Hall first worked for Peco before working for then-City Council President Anna Verna for six years. Hall spent four years in the register of wills executive office, where she worked with constituents handling the estates of deceased loved ones. Most recently, she worked for Mayor Jim Kenney in his chief of staff’s office before stepping down in 2023 to run for office.

Hall said she would prioritize rooting out nepotism and cronyism in hiring practices. Longtime register Donatucci, for example, used the office to hire several politically connected staffers, including Democratic ward leaders and committeepeople. Hall also said current office leadership lacks “understanding of what services it provides.”

She said she would prioritize updating the office’s technology, make the hiring process more transparent and, like Hall Lowe, establish community-based satellite offices.

Hall is endorsed by the Transport Workers Union Local 234.

Sabatina is the only candidate backed by the strength of the Democratic City Committee. The 76-year-old retired estate lawyer is also the most politically connected candidate.

As a lawyer, Sabatina has handled more than 70 estates.

He’s been a ward leader for more than 30 years, and his son, John Sabatina Jr., was a state representative and a state senator, and now sits on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

Like the other candidates, Sabatina said he would prioritize digitizing the office’s “warehouse full of documents,” noting that a natural disaster could damage historical records. Sabatina credited incumbent Gordon with sounding the alarm on tangled titles, but said her office has not done enough to help rectify the cases. He would bolster the office’s workforce to help resolve more tangled titles.

Sabatina also said he would appoint an office diversity director.

In addition to the party endorsement, he’s endorsed by several building trades unions and city worker union AFSCME District Council 47.