Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Maryland’s elective share is not the one-third-of-everything, marriage-length figure most national pages describe. 1/3 of the ‘estate subject to election’ if there is surviving issue; 1/2 if no surviving issue; both reduced by the value of all ‘spousal benefits’ already received
What Maryland actually sets out
| What the statute sets out | What it says |
|---|---|
| Md. Code Ann., Estates & Trusts Sec. 3-403 (amount) | “If there is surviving issue, the elective share shall equal one-third of the value of the estate subject to election, reduced by the value of all spousal benefits; or… If there is no surviving issue, the elective share shall equal one-half of the value of the estate subject to election, reduced by the value of all spousal benefits.” |
| The share and what it is measured against | 1/3 of the ‘estate subject to election’ if there is surviving issue; 1/2 if no surviving issue; both reduced by the value of all ‘spousal benefits’ already received; measured against the ‘estate subject to election,’ a 2020-reformed defined term broader than the probate estate alone (reaches certain revocable-trust and other transfers), reduced by spousal benefits already received. |
| Regime type | flat fraction, not tied to marriage length |
| Can it be waived | waivable before or after marriage by a written contract signed by the waiving spouse |
| Time limit to file | within the later of 9 months after the date of death or approximately 6 months after a related probate/appointment event |
How it works in practice
- The share is measured against the ‘estate subject to election,’ a 2020-reformed defined term broader than the probate estate alone (reaches certain revocable-trust and other transfers), reduced by spousal benefits already received.
- No. This state’s formula is deliberately built to reach revocable trusts, payable-on-death accounts and other lifetime transfers, precisely so the elective share cannot be defeated by moving assets out of probate before death.
- Waiver: Waivable before or after marriage by a written contract signed by the waiving spouse.
- The election has to be affirmatively filed on a deadline: within the later of 9 months after the date of death or approximately 6 months after a related probate/appointment event.
The national picture, including the Uniform Probate Code sliding-scale schedule that a minority of states actually use, is on the elective share calculator page; this page is the record for Maryland specifically, and its own numbers above should be used instead of the calculator’s national default for a Maryland estate. The one thing that reliably defeats an elective share in every state that has one is explained on whether a prenup can waive the elective share. A newly widowed reader working through the fuller list of irreversible decisions, of which this is one, can start from the surviving spouse checklist.
What this page does not settle
- This session confirmed the core figure above against a primary or verbatim-mirror source, with one open point: Exact time-limit language and trust-inclusion detail came from a truncated search summary, not a direct fetch.
- A state can amend or repeal this section without the page around it changing, and a detail specific to a reader’s own situation, such as a pending divorce, a premarital agreement, or property held jointly with right of survivorship, can change which part of the statute actually applies.
- Whether a revocable trust changes the outcome in Maryland is explained above; that answer is specific to this state and does not generalize to any other one.
- Every quotation here was read against the source on September 5, 2026. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and the exact dollar or percentage amount a court awards depends on facts this page cannot know.
Whether this statute reaches a given family’s actual facts is decided by a court, not by this page. Nothing here is legal advice, and no one should sign a waiver or forgo an election on the strength of a web page.
Sources
The sources above were retrieved and read against the state text on September 5, 2026. Every quotation on this page was checked against those bytes.