General Assembly Raised Bill No. 956
January Session, 2017 LCO No. 4682
*04682_______JUD*
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 956
January Session, 2017
LCO No. 4682
*04682_______JUD*
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT CONCERNING A SURVIVING SPOUSE'S STATUTORY SHARE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 45a-436 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2018):
(a) On the death of a spouse, the surviving spouse may elect, as provided in subsection (c) of this section, to take a statutory share of the real and personal property passing under the will of the deceased spouse. The "statutory share" means (1) with respect to the estate of a spouse dying on or before September 30, 2018, a life estate of one-third in value of all the property passing under the will, real and personal, legally or equitably owned by the deceased spouse at the time of his or her death, after the payment of all debts and charges against the estate, and (2) with respect to the estate of a spouse dying on or after October 1, 2018, a life estate of one-half in value of all the property passing under the will, real and personal, legally or equitably owned by the deceased spouse at the time of his or her death, after the payment of all debts and charges against the estate. The right to such [third] statutory share shall not be defeated by any disposition of the property by will to other parties.
(b) If the deceased spouse has by will devised or bequeathed a portion of his or her property to his or her surviving spouse, such provision shall be taken to be in lieu of the statutory share unless the contrary is expressly stated in the will or clearly appears therein; but, in any such case, the surviving spouse may elect to take the statutory share in lieu of the provision of the will.
(c) The surviving spouse, or the conservator or guardian of the estate of the surviving spouse, with the approval, after notice and hearing, of the Probate Court by which such conservator or guardian was appointed, shall, not later than one hundred fifty days after the mailing of the decree admitting the will to probate, file a notice, in writing, of his or her intention to take the statutory share with the Probate Court before which the estate is in settlement, and if such notice is not so filed, the surviving spouse shall be barred of such statutory share.
(d) If the Probate Court has allowed a support allowance under section 45a-320 from the deceased spouse's estate for support of the surviving spouse and for the support of his or her family, the surviving spouse shall not take his or her statutory share until the expiration of the time for which the support allowance is made.
(e) The statutory share shall be set out by the fiduciary charged with the administration of the estate or, in the discretion of the Probate Court on its own motion or on application by any interested person, by distributors appointed by the Probate Court. The statutory share may consist of personal property or real property, or both, according to the judgment of the fiduciary or distributors.
(f) The provisions of this section with regard to the statutory share of the surviving spouse in the property of the deceased spouse shall not apply to any case in which, by written contract made before or after marriage, either party has received from the other what was intended as a provision in lieu of the statutory share.
(g) A surviving spouse shall not be entitled to a statutory share, as provided in subsection (a) of this section, or an intestate share, as provided in section 45a-437, in the property of the other if such surviving spouse, without sufficient cause, abandoned the other and continued such abandonment to the time of the other's death.
[(h) The provisions of this section shall apply to estates of all persons dying on or after July 1, 1985.]
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2018 45a-436
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2018
45a-436
Statement of Purpose:
To increase the value of a surviving spouse's statutory share.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]