Florida Statute 732.201
“Right to elective share”
What it means
Florida does not let one spouse disinherit the other by will. This section gives the surviving spouse of a person who dies domiciled in Florida the right to an elective share of the elective estate — a claim that exists no matter what the will or trust says.
Two built-in protections: making the election does not reduce anything the spouse was already set to receive, and the electing spouse is not treated as having predeceased the decedent. The election is a floor, not a trade.
- Applies when the decedent died domiciled in Florida; the spouse's own residence doesn't matter.
- The election itself reduces nothing the spouse otherwise receives, and the electing spouse is not treated as having predeceased the decedent.
- The amount is fixed by §732.2065 at 30 percent of the elective estate defined in §732.2035.
- The deadline to elect is in §732.2135 — as short as 6 months after service of the notice of administration.
- The right can be waived — a valid prenuptial or postnuptial agreement under §732.702 bars it.
How it plays out
The elective share is the backstop we check in every case where a will or trust shorts a spouse — second marriages most of all. Because the elective estate reaches revocable trusts, pay-on-death accounts, and joint property, a plan that routes everything around probate usually doesn't defeat it. The two questions we answer first: is there a signed waiver, and where does the §732.2135 clock stand? The right is powerful and the deadline is unforgiving.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 732.201 does real work:
Questions people ask
