Wills (2023): Property disposition (Part Two)

An elective share is a term used in American law relating to inheritance, which describes a proportion of an estate which the surviving spouse of the deceased may claim in place of what they were left in the decedent's will. It may also be called a widow's share, statutory share, election against the will, or forced share.

Function and operation.

The elective share is the modern version of the English common law concepts of dower and curtesy, both of which reserved certain portions of a decedent's estate which were reserved for the surviving spouse to prevent them from falling into poverty and becoming a burden on the community.

Currently, the amount to be reserved for a spouse is determined by the law of the state where the estate is located. In most states, the elective share is between one-third and one-half of all the property in the estate, although many states require the marriage to have lasted a certain number of years for the elective share to be claimed, or adjust the share based on the length of the marriage, and the presence of minor children. Some states also reduce the elective share if the surviving spouse is independently wealthy.

In some jurisdictions, if the spouse claims the elective share, they get that amount, but nothing else from the estate. In other states, claiming an elective share has no effect on gifts under a will or through a trust (though things given by will or trust may fulfill in part the elective share portion). Obviously, there would be no point in seeking an elective share if the surviving spouse has already been willed more than they would receive under the statute. Furthermore, some assets held by the estate may be exempt from becoming part of the elective share, so their value is subtracted from the total value of the estate before the elective share is calculated.

Some states also permit children of the deceased to claim an elective share.

Pretermitted heir.

In the law of property, a pretermitted heir is a person who would likely stand to inherit under a will, except that the testator (the person who wrote the will) did not include the person in the testator's will. Omission may occur because the testator did not know of the omitted person at the time the will was written.

A will may contain a clause that explicitly disinherits any heirs unknown at the time that the will is executed, or any heirs not named in the will. While such a clause will not necessarily prevent a claim against an estate by a pretermitted heir, it may make it more difficult to succeed in such an action.

Forced heirship is a form of testate partible inheritance which mandates how the deceased's estate is to be disposed of and which tends to guarantee an inheritance for the family of the deceased.

In forced heirship, the estate of a deceased (de cujus) is separated into two portions. (1) An indefeasible portion, the forced estate (passing to the deceased's next-of-ki. (2) A discretionary portion, or free estate, to be freely disposed of by will. Forced heirship is generally a feature of civil-law legal systems which do not recognize total freedom of testation, in contrast with common law jurisdictions.

Normally in forced heirship, the deceased's estate is in-gathered and wound up without discharging liabilities, which means accepting inheritance includes accepting the liabilities attached to inherited property. The forced estate is divided into shares which include the share of issue (legitime or child's share) and the spousal share. This provides a minimum protection that cannot be defeated by will. The free estate, on the other hand, is at the discretion of a testator to be distributed by will on death to whomever he or she chooses. Takers in the forced estate are known as forced heirs.

The expression comes from Louisianan legal language and is ultimately a calque of Spanish sucesión forzosa.