Change in Surviving Spouse's Intestate Share effective October 1, 2011

Effective October 1, 2011, a surviving spouse's intestate share of an estate will go up from 50% to 100% of the estate if the decedent's descendants are also descendants of the surviving spouse.

Here's how the new intestacy distribution for surviving spouses is explained in Florida House of Representative's Staff Analysis of CS/HB 325:

Intestate Estate

When a) an individual dies (the decedent) without a will, b) a person's will is declared invalid, or c) assets are not distributed by a valid will, then the individual is considered "intestate." Since there is no will to direct the distribution of assets, Florida law provides how the distribution of assets will be made after paying debts and the expense of conducting the probate proceedings.

Florida law on intestate succession provides the following: 

·         If there are no surviving descendants of the decedent, then the spouse receives the entire intestate estate.

·         If there are surviving descendants of the decedent, who are all also lineal descendants of the surviving spouse, then the surviving spouse receives the first $60,000 in property of the estate, plus one-half of the remaining balance of the estate subject to distribution. [THIS IS WHERE THE LAW IS CHANGING. EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2011, THIS SURVIVING SPOUSE NOW GETS 100% OF THE ESTATE.]

·         If there are surviving descendants of the decedent, one or more of whom are not lineal descendants of the surviving spouse, then the surviving spouse receives one half of the estate and the lineal descendants receive the other half.

·         There are additional provisions for distribution in situations beyond these, which distribute assets to other family members, but those are not relevant to the changes made in this bill. See § 732.103 .

The bill also creates s. 732.102(4), F.S., to provide that if the surviving spouse has descendants that are also descendants of the decedent, but the surviving spouse also has a descendant not related to the decedent, then the surviving spouse's intestate share is half of the estate. The lineal descendants of the decedent would inherit the remaining half of the estate under s. 732.103, F.S.