Probate Family Allowance Requirements in Maine

At a glance

Requirements one by one

The 2026 adjusted amounts

Maine indexes the statutory amounts by the decedent's year of death. Under 18-C M.R.S. § 1-108, a 2026 estate uses the prior calendar year's CPI against the 2017 reference index and rounds the adjusted amount as directed by statute. The official probate-court schedule gives these amounts for a 2026 death:

• $35,400 family-allowance personal-representative ceiling;
• $29,500 homestead allowance; and
• $19,700 exempt-property allowance.

Section 1-108 makes the monthly family figure the adjusted lump sum divided by 12. That produces $2,950 per month for one year. The adjusted figure limits what the personal representative may initially determine under § 2-405; an aggrieved person may seek a different family allowance from the court.

Claimants, domicile, and payment routing

Part 4 applies to a decedent domiciled in Maine. For a nonresident decedent, § 2-401 sends the homestead, exempt-property, and family-allowance rights to the law of the decedent's domicile.

Section 2-404 covers the surviving spouse, minor children whom the decedent was obligated to support, and children the decedent was actually supporting. Payment normally goes to the surviving spouse for the spouse and minor or dependent children. If no spouse is living, it goes to the children or their caregivers. A child living elsewhere may receive a separate part directly or through a guardian or caregiver according to need.

Initial determination and court relief

The family allowance is a statutory entitlement to reasonable maintenance during administration. Section 2-405 lets the personal representative determine and pay the allowance within the adjusted ceiling. Section 2-404 directs the representative to satisfy it promptly from available assets.

A personal representative or interested person aggrieved by a selection, determination, payment, proposed payment, or failure to act may petition for appropriate relief, including a different allowance. Section 1-201 defines a petition as a written request for a court order after notice. Part 4 states no special verification, attachment list, hearing format, or family-allowance proof checklist.

Duration, death, and creditor priority

If the estate cannot discharge allowed claims, the allowance may not continue beyond one year. Part 4 states no separate fixed request deadline. A recipient's death ends that person's right to any family allowance not yet paid.

Costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses, and the homestead allowance come before the family allowance. Subject to those three exceptions, the family allowance is exempt from and has priority over estate claims. The personal representative must promptly satisfy it from available assets.

Exempt-property rights also precede ordinary claims after administration and reasonable funeral expenses. Assets used to fill an exempt-property shortage abate as needed to permit earlier payment of homestead and family allowances.

Inheritance effect and waiver

The family allowance is additional to a will benefit, intestate share, or elective share unless the will expressly says the benefit or share is intended in lieu of the allowance. The homestead and exempt-property sections use parallel express-in-lieu rules.

Under § 2-213, the surviving spouse may waive the elective share, homestead, exempt property, family allowance, or any of them wholly or partly before or after marriage in a signed writing. The statute supplies voluntariness and unconscionability-plus-disclosure defenses and ordinarily treats an all-rights waiver or complete separation-related property settlement as reaching all four rights.

What trips people up

• The amounts depend on year of death. The $27,000, $22,500, and $15,000 figures printed in the code are the statutory bases, not the applicable 2026 amounts.
• $35,400 limits the personal representative, not the court. Section 2-405 permits appropriate court relief for an aggrieved person, including a family allowance different from the administrative ceiling.
• The one-year cap is triggered by an inadequate estate. Section 2-404 does not state the same outside limit for an estate able to discharge allowed claims.
• Priority has three express exceptions. Administration costs, reasonable funeral expenses, and the homestead allowance all precede family support.

Common questions

Can the allowance be divided when a child lives elsewhere?

Yes. Section 2-404 permits part to be paid to the child, guardian, or caregiver and part to the surviving spouse according to their needs.

Can specifically devised property fund all three rights?

Section 2-405 protects specifically devised property from satisfying homestead and exempt-property rights when the estate is otherwise sufficient. That sentence does not state the same restriction for the cash family allowance.

Does the family allowance continue after a recipient dies?

No. Section 2-404 terminates that person's right to any allowance not yet paid.

Statutes and sources

• 18-C M.R.S. § 1-108 — annual adjustment formula and monthly calculation; § 1-201(41) defines a petition (accessed August 3, 2026).
• 18-C M.R.S. §§ 2-401 through 2-405 — domicile, homestead, exempt property, family allowance, determination, and court relief; see the official pages for § 2-402, § 2-403, § 2-404, and § 2-405 (accessed August 3, 2026).
• 18-C M.R.S. § 2-213 — waiver and enforceability safeguards (accessed August 3, 2026).
• Maine Probate Code § 1-108 COLA schedule — 2026 year-of-death adjusted amounts (accessed August 17, 2026).