Also known as: probate family allowances · family allowance · widow's allowance
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A statutory entitlement paid from a decedent's estate to a surviving spouse or dependent children to cover living expenses during probate administration.
Penelope Price signed a written agreement before her marriage to Perry Pratt waiving all claims to his estate including family allowance. After Perry's death the personal representative denied her petition for the allowance. The probate court enforced the agreement and denied the claim.
Phoebe Park was convicted of feloniously killing her husband. She petitioned the estate for a family allowance to cover living costs during administration. The court held that the conviction triggered forfeiture of the allowance under the slayer statute.
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Patricia Patel's estate included assets subject to federal estate tax. The surviving spouse claimed a family allowance under state probate rules. The court applied state law to determine the allowance amount for purposes of calculating the taxable estate.
Yes. A surviving spouse may waive the family allowance only through a written agreement signed before or after marriage. The agreement is enforceable without consideration.
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Yes. An individual who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent forfeits the family allowance along with other estate benefits.
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Yes. The family allowance is payable in addition to the elective share and is not charged against it.
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The personal representative may distribute the estate immediately without notice to creditors when the estate value is insufficient to cover the allowance and other priority claims.
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…of the balance. The Commissioner disallowed the claimed deduction and levied a deficiency which was based on the denial of the widow's allowance as part of the marital deduction and the reduction of the marital deduction for the widow's trust, by requiring that the estate tax be charged to the full estate prior to the deduction of…