Maryland: Probate Family Allowance Requirements

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 A protected account cannot be withdrawn without a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).