The Legal Lifeline for a Spouse Left Out of a Florida Will

Marriage carries certain financial protections that do not disappear just because a spouse was written out of a will. Florida law recognizes that a surviving spouse may be entitled to a share of the estate regardless of what the will actually says, and this right exists independently of whatever provisions a deceased spouse may have signed. For anyone facing this situation, Pompano Beach elective share lawyers at Mark R. Manceri, P.A. can explain how this protection works and whether it applies to a particular estate.

What the Elective Share Actually Provides

Florida’s elective share statute allows a surviving spouse to claim thirty percent of the elective estate, even if the will leaves them little or nothing. This right exists so that one spouse cannot simply cut the other out entirely, whether the decision was intentional, the product of a rushed estate plan, or the result of pressure from someone else involved in drafting the documents. The elective share is a statutory floor, not a negotiating position, and a surviving spouse generally cannot be talked out of it without a valid, properly executed waiver signed before the marriage or during it.

Figuring Out What Counts Toward the Estate

Calculating the elective estate is rarely as simple as adding up what passed through probate. Florida law pulls in assets that many people assume are separate from the will entirely, including certain revocable trust property, jointly held accounts with rights of survivorship, life insurance proceeds in some circumstances, and transfers made shortly before death that reduced what the surviving spouse would otherwise receive. This broader scope is intentional. Without it, a spouse could technically follow the letter of the elective share law while still moving most of the wealth out of reach through beneficiary designations or last minute account changes made in the final months of life.

Sorting out which assets belong in that calculation often requires a close review of bank records, deeds, and beneficiary designation forms going back several years. This process can sometimes uncover transfers the surviving spouse never knew about, which may raise separate questions about undue influence at the time those transfers were made.

Why Waiting Is Risky

A surviving spouse who wants to pursue an elective share does not have unlimited time to decide. Florida imposes a strict filing window, generally measured from the earlier of six months after a notice of administration is served or two years after the date of death. Missing that window can permanently forfeit the right to claim a share, no matter how compelling the underlying facts may be. Because personal representatives are not required to remind a spouse of this deadline, many people learn about the time limit only after it has already closed.

Acting early preserves options that disappear quickly once probate moves forward, and it gives an attorney time to properly value complex or hard to trace assets before records become stale.

Was a spouse quietly written out of the plan? These situations often involve complicated math, layered documents, and family tension that make self representation risky. The attorneys at Mark R. Manceri, P.A. help surviving spouses in Pompano Beach and throughout Broward County evaluate their elective share rights and pursue the portion of the estate the law says they are owed. A confidential consultation is the best place to start.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0732/Sections/0732.2065.html