{"id":12463,"date":"2022-08-10T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legaltalktexas.hammerle.com\/?p=12463"},"modified":"2025-06-18T13:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T18:34:07","slug":"the-widows-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/probate\/the-widows-election\/","title":{"rendered":"The Widows\u2019 Election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Widows in Texas have a special option at the passing of their spouse called the widows\u2019 election. The rule states that if the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/estate-planning-and-probate\/half-a-century-later-patterns-emerge-in-predatory-marriages\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">surviving spouse<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is entitled to a benefit under a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/estate-planning-and-probate\/how-to-write-a-will-in-texas\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but must suffer a detriment as well, the surviving spouse cannot accept the benefit without also accepting the detriment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take the hypothetical Smith family, comprised of spouses Chris and Taylor. Chris has passed away, leaving a will, which Taylor submits to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/estate-planning-and-probate\/types-of-probate-in-texas\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">probate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The will devises, or gives, to Taylor the spouses\u2019 primary residence, a nice ranch-style house in a suburb. However, the will also devises the remainder of Chris\u2019 property to Chris\u2019 alma mater, State U, including a couple acres of grazing pasture to be set aside as a practice field for the disc golf team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, because Texas is a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/legal-talk\/yours-mine-and-ours-texas-community-property-explained\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">community property state<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Chris only owned half of each of the suburb and the pasture properties at death. But Chris purported to give away the entirety of those properties to the respective devisees. What is the result? The surviving spouse, Taylor, has to make a choice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taylor has two options: take under the will, or take under community property law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the will, Taylor gets the whole house in the \u2018burbs, down to every nail (the benefit) but Taylor gives up half of the pasture and half of Chris\u2019 other property to the disc golfers of State U (the detriment). Taylor cannot get the benefit without the detriment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Taylor can choose to keep the half of both properties that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/estate-planning-and-probate\/community-property-survivorship-agreements-this-tool-deserves-another-look\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">community property laws<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> grant outright. The downside is that Taylor now becomes tenants in common with whoever receives the other half of that property \u2013 and Taylor might not want to be co-tenants with State U, as an alum of their rival, College Tech.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no hard and fast rule about which choice is better \u2013 surviving spouses should evaluate what works best for their interests when making such an election.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hammerle Morris Can Help With Your Estate Planning Needs<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are looking for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/practice-areas\/estate-planning-probate\/estate-planning\/?_ga=2.78650647.2098104047.1654525337-181759580.1654023227\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">estate planning<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> assistance, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/lewisville-attorney\/#form\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">schedule a consultation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with one of the experienced <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/lawyers\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">attorneys<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at Hammerle Morris to discuss your options.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bryce Griffin is a third-year J.D. student at Baylor University School of Law, and completed his undergraduate in Philosophy and Political Science at Baylor University. He is looking forward to entering the estate planning legal field upon graduation and passing the Bar.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Widows in Texas have a special option at the passing of their spouse called the widows\u2019 election. The rule states that if the surviving spouse is entitled to a benefit under a will, but must suffer a detriment as well, the surviving spouse cannot accept the benefit without also accepting the detriment. Take the hypothetical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1225],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-probate"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Widows\u2019 Election - Hammerle Morris Law Firm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Widows in Texas have a special option at the passing of their spouse called the widows\u2019 election. 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