The Elective Share Statute in Indiana

							The Elective Share Statute in Indiana

Pursuant to the Indiana Law, surviving spouses have legal rights to renounce their inheritances in

favor of their statutory elective shares. Based on the Uniform Probate Code, the Indiana Law

contains an elective share allowance whereby one spouse cannot entirely disinherit the other in

the absence of a valid nuptial or marital agreement. Thus, if you are an Indiana resident, and you

are the surviving spouse without an inheritance under your deceased spouse’s Will, you will

receive an elective share of property if you exercise your statutory elective share rights.



If your spouse left you a small inheritance in his/her Will, you can disclaim or renounce your

inheritance in favor of your statutory elective share. The Indiana Law provides for a statutory

one-half share of the deceased spouse’s net estate in favor of a surviving spouse’s elective share

right. However, the Indiana Law limits the statutory 50 percent share to certain spouses. If you

are a surviving spouse, but your deceased spouse was previously married, you will receive a

smaller statutory share if you did not have children with your deceased spouse. In this case, a

surviving spouse who did not have children with her/his deceased spouse receives only one-third

of his/her personal estate and a quarter of his/her real estate if her/his husband/wife had children

who survive him/her.



To exercise your statutory elective share and to renounce your inherited share, you must do so

within a strict time limit under Indiana law. Indiana law requires you to exercise your elective

share rights within 10 days of the time that other individuals can file claims to the decedent’s




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estate. Generally, the time limit is within three months after publication of the executor’s

appointment within a newspaper of general circulation.


Experienced estate planning attorneys Crown Point IN of the John M. O'Drobinak P.C. offers

estate planning and business planning resources to residents of Crown Point, IN. To learn more

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