Probate Family Allowance Requirements in Idaho

At a glance

Requirements one by one

What Idaho provides instead of a family allowance

Idaho's complete current Part 4 index lists Idaho Code §§ 15-2-401, 15-2-402, 15-2-403, 15-2-405, and 15-2-406. It contains no temporary cash-maintenance family allowance. The ordinary Idaho route is therefore to consider the two application-based property protections that remain in the same statutory part.

Idaho Code § 15-2-402 creates a $50,000 cash homestead allowance. It is not ownership of the decedent's home. The surviving spouse takes it; if there is no spouse, it is divided among children under 21 whom the decedent was obligated to support and children the decedent actually supported who meet the cited federal disability definition.

Idaho Code § 15-2-403 separately provides up to $10,000 in net tangible personal property, including household furniture, automobiles, furnishings, appliances, family heirlooms, and personal effects. The spouse takes first; if there is no spouse, the children take jointly.

Neither right is automatic. Idaho Code § 15-2-405 requires the spouse or children to apply and imports the creditor-claim manner and timing rules. In practical terms, the applicant must send or deliver a written statement to the personal representative and file it with the court clerk under § 15-3-804. The § 15-3-803 outside bar is three years after death, but published notice can shorten the period to four months after first publication, and actual notice invokes the later-of timing stated in § 15-3-801(b).

The spouse, minor-child guardian, or adult child may select qualifying property. The personal representative may select after inability or failure to act within a reasonable time, and an aggrieved interested person may petition for relief. The personal representative need not give a special allowance notice, and a claimant's creditor cannot enforce the right on the claimant's behalf.

Both protections precede ordinary estate claims, but § 15-2-405 places reasonable administration costs and expenses first. They generally add to a will, intestate share, or elective share unless the will provides otherwise. Under § 15-2-406, a will may eliminate or limit the spouse's or an adult child's rights, but not a minor or disabled child's rights.

What trips people up

• “Homestead allowance” means cash here. The $50,000 right does not give ownership of or succession to a particular home.
• The rights are not automatic. Missing the imported creditor-claim filing method or deadline can bar an otherwise eligible spouse or child.
• Priority does not put the applicant ahead of administration costs. Reasonable estate-administration costs and expenses are paid first.

Common questions

Can a surviving spouse's creditor file the application?

No. Section 15-2-405 bars a creditor—or another person claiming through the spouse or child—from enforcing or applying for the homestead or exempt-property right on that person's behalf.

Can specifically devised property be selected?

Not when the estate is otherwise sufficient. Section 15-2-405 protects specifically devised property, including property covered by § 15-2-513, in that circumstance.

Does every child qualify for the $50,000 homestead pool?

No. If no spouse survives, § 15-2-402 limits that pool to the stated under-21 support-obligation class and actually supported children who meet the federal disability definition.

Statutes and sources

• Idaho Code Part 4 index — complete current list of the homestead and exempt-property provisions, with no family-allowance section (accessed August 3, 2026).
• Idaho Code § 15-2-401 — domicile rule (accessed August 3, 2026).
• Idaho Code § 15-2-402 — $50,000 cash homestead allowance and eligible class (accessed August 3, 2026).
• Idaho Code § 15-2-403 — $10,000 tangible-personal-property right (accessed August 3, 2026).
• Idaho Code § 15-2-405 — application requirement, imported filing procedure, notice, selection, and priority limit (accessed August 3, 2026).
• Idaho Code § 15-2-406 — will-based limitations (accessed August 3, 2026).
• Idaho Code §§ 15-3-801, 15-3-803, and 15-3-804 — imported notice, deadline, and filing method (accessed August 3, 2026).