Estate

What a Surviving Spouse Can Claim

October 12, 2026

Many people assume a will controls everything that happens after a death. Tennessee gives a surviving spouse certain rights that a will cannot simply override. Knowing those rights helps couples plan with fewer surprises and helps survivors understand their options.

A Spouse Can Elect Against the Will

Under Tennessee Code section 31-4-101, a surviving spouse who elects against the decedent’s will has a right to an elective share of the net estate. The share depends on how long the marriage lasted:

  • Less than three years of marriage: 10 percent of the net estate
  • Three years but less than six: 20 percent
  • Six years but less than nine: 30 percent
  • Nine years or more: 40 percent

The statute adds that the years of marriage do not have to be consecutive and may be separated by divorce. A plan that leaves a spouse less than the elective share may be reshaped by the spouse’s choice to elect.

The Year’s Support Allowance Covers Living Expenses

A separate right comes from section 30-2-102, which provides the surviving spouse with a reasonable allowance in money out of the estate for maintenance during the year after the death. The court looks at the spouse’s previous standard of living and the condition of the estate. When there is no surviving spouse, the allowance goes to the unmarried minor children.

The statute sets no fixed dollar amount, so the figure depends on the facts. It is also exempt from claims against the estate.

Property Often Passes Outside the Will

Spousal rights are measured against the estate as a whole, but a will does not control every asset. Married couples often hold the family home through tenancy by the entirety, which changes what the survivor receives without any court proceeding.

Retirement accounts and life insurance pass according to beneficiary forms, and an outdated form can send money to a person the owner no longer intended to benefit.

Blended Families Face Extra Pressure

When a spouse is not the parent of the decedent’s children, these rights can pull against the family’s wishes. A will that leaves everything to children from a first marriage may collide with the surviving spouse’s statutory rights.

A trust can provide for a spouse during life and then pass the remainder to the children. An Alcoa trust lawyer can help structure those provisions so they account for the statutory rights instead of ignoring them.

Business Owners Have More to Weigh

Business owners in Alcoa often hold much of their wealth in the company, and an Alcoa business sale lawyer can help a family settle questions about value and timing when an owner dies. A spouse’s elective share is measured against the estate, so an illiquid business can make the numbers harder to settle.

A will drafted with help from an Alcoa wills lawyer is strongest when it reflects the couple’s property titles and account designations rather than the document alone.

Questions Couples Can Settle in Advance

Several questions are easier to answer while both spouses are alive:

  • Whether each spouse’s will provides at least as much as the elective share would
  • How the family home and other real property are titled
  • Which accounts name a spouse as beneficiary
  • Whether either spouse has signed an agreement about inheritance rights

Couples who want their documents to work together can ask an Alcoa estate lawyer to compare each spouse’s will, account designations and property titles side by side.

What Survivors Should Do After a Death

A survivor who suspects the will leaves too little should ask about these options soon after the death, since the court process has its own timetable. People searching for an Alcoa estate lawyer after a spouse dies often want to know what they are owed, and the answer usually depends on the marriage, the will, and how the property is held.

Experience With Estate Matters

Carpenter & Lewis PLLC handles wills, trusts, estate planning, and estate and trust administration. Attorney Bradley S. Lewis earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1997 and practices estate planning and estate and trust administration with the firm.

Spousal rights are easier to plan around than to dispute, and married couples in Alcoa can reach out to the firm to review how their wills and property titles work together.