Florida Statute 732.301
“Pretermitted spouse”
What it means
Marry after signing your will, and Florida adjusts it for you. A pretermitted spouse — one the will predates — receives the share they would have taken had there been no will at all: the intestate share under §732.102, which is at least half and often the entire estate.
Three exits, and only three: a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement made provision for the spouse or waived it; the will actually provides for the spouse; or the will itself discloses an intention not to provide. The share is assembled from the other beneficiaries' gifts under §733.805.
- Trigger: the marriage came after the will was made and the spouse survives the testator.
- The remedy is the full intestate share of §732.102 — one-half to all of the estate, not a token amount.
- Exception 1: a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement provided for the spouse or waived the right.
- Exception 2: the will provides for the spouse. Exception 3: the will discloses an intention not to provide.
- The pretermitted share is carved from the other devises in the order set by §733.805.
How it plays out
We see this most in late-in-life remarriages: the will was signed years ago, the couple never updated it, and the children of the first marriage assume it controls. Unless a marital agreement or the will's own language says otherwise, the new spouse takes an intestate share off the top — and where the couple has no children between them from other relationships, that can be everything. It stacks with the spouse's other rights, too; homestead and exempt property don't vanish because the will is old.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 732.301 does real work:
Questions people ask
