Probate Family Allowance Requirements in Maryland

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Fixed claimants and amounts

Section 3-201 creates two fixed allowances. A surviving spouse receives $10,000 for personal use. A surviving registered domestic partner also appears in that sentence, but § 2-214(g) supplies the controlling qualification: the partner receives the family allowance when the decedent died intestate.

Each unmarried child who was under 18 when the decedent died receives a separate $5,000 allowance. The statute does not require the child to prove financial dependency, co-residence, or a prior support obligation, and it fixes both age and marital status at the date of death.

How a child's allowance is delivered and used

Section 13-501 first permits payment to the child's guardian. If there is no known guardian, the $5,000 amount may go to the parent or grandparent with whom the child lives. If none exists, it may go to a parent or person standing in loco parentis, or into a qualifying financial-institution account in the child's sole name.

An adult recipient must use the money for the child's support and education, may reimburse only qualifying out-of-pocket expenses, and must preserve any excess for future support. A protected account cannot be withdrawn without a court order before majority, and any unused balance or tangible property held by a caregiver must be turned over when the child reaches majority.

Payment during administration and an insufficient estate

The allowance is an entitlement administered through the estate, not a court-set reasonable-support award. Section 3-201 directs the personal representative to pay the child allowance and prescribes no separate allowance petition, verification, notice, hearing, or need finding. In a small estate, § 5-603 directs the register to order immediate payment once the filed petition and additional proceeding information are found accurate; estate property may be sold if necessary to satisfy expenses and allowances.

If estate assets cannot pay every claim, § 8-105 places the family allowance in the fifth class. Register fees, administration costs, funeral expenses, and the listed fiduciary, legal, and broker compensation come first. The allowance comes before unpaid child support, taxes, last-illness expenses, rent, recent wages, public assistance, and all other claims. No claimant in the same class may receive a preference over another.

Estate distribution and spouse waiver

Section 1-101 generally defines the net estate to exclude the family allowance and enforceable claims, subject to its stated exceptions for §§ 3-102 and 3-203. The same section confines estate property to interests that do not pass to someone else at death by the governing instrument or operation of law.

Section 3-406 supplies the express spouse-waiver rule. Unless the agreement says otherwise, a signed waiver of “all rights” or equivalent language in a present or prospective spouse's property or estate also waives the family allowance and elective share. The registered-partner statute separately states that a surviving registered domestic partner has no elective-share right.

What trips people up

• The partner rule is narrower than the short allowance sentence appears. Section 2-214(g) ties a surviving registered partner's allowance to an intestate decedent.
• The allowance is not the first estate payment. Four statutory classes precede it when assets are insufficient.
• The child test is applied at death. The child must then be both unmarried and under 18; the statute does not substitute a general dependency test.
• The child recipient does not own the money personally. Section 13-501 restricts its use and requires preservation of any unused balance for the child.
• The allowance section does not create a universal petition packet. It states the entitlement and payment route without imposing statewide verification, service, attachment, or hearing requirements for an ordinary payment.

Common questions

Who receives the money if a child has no guardian?

Section 13-501 permits payment to the parent or grandparent with whom the child lives. If there is no such person, payment may go to a parent or person standing in loco parentis, or into a protected account in the child's sole name.

May the caregiver spend the child's allowance on personal expenses?

No. The recipient must apply it to the child's support and education. Personal reimbursement is limited to out-of-pocket expenses for necessary goods and services furnished by others.

Does a surviving registered domestic partner receive an elective share too?

No. Section 2-214 gives the qualifying partner an intestate-estate family allowance but expressly denies the partner an elective-share right.

Statutes and sources

• Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 3-201 — eligible claimants, fixed amounts, child's death-date test, and personal-representative payment. The spouse or partner “is entitled to receive an allowance of $10,000 for personal use.” Official current section (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 2-214 — registered-partner qualification, intestacy scope, and no elective share. Official current section (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 13-501 — guardian, caregiver, and account payment routes plus use and preservation duties for a child's property. Official current section (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 8-105 — fifth-class insolvency priority and the same-class no-preference rule. Official current section (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 1-101 and § 5-603 — net-estate and estate-property definitions, and immediate family-allowance payment in small-estate administration. Official definitions and official small-estate section (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 3-406 — signed spouse waiver and the effect of all-rights language. Official current section (accessed 2026-08-03).