Q: Does the personal rep. have to give the widow 30% if the rep. is the beneficiary?
10% widow 90% personal representative from a bank account
A:
Florida’s elective share law provides a safety net for a surviving spouse who has been cut out of the deceased spouse’s will or left a very small portion of the estate.The elective share is a percentage of the deceased’s estate that the surviving spouse may claim, regardless of the terms of the will. With limited exceptions, the surviving spouse can override the terms of the will to collect the elective share. In Florida, the elective share is 30% of the estate, but the calculation isn’t quite as straightforward as it might sound. That’s because some property that isn’t actually part of the estate is considered for purposes of calculating the elective share.
The surviving spouse may file an election on or before the earlier of:
Six months from the date he or she was served with a notice of administration, or
Two years from the deceased’s date of death
A surviving spouse may, with good cause, request an extension of the time to make the election. A request for extension must be filed within the timeline set forth above, with one exception. Certain proceedings may trigger a later deadline for requesting an extension. However, the two-years-from-death mark is a hard cut-off.
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