Kansas: Spousal Elective Share Requirements

Requirements one by one

The percentage grows with the marriage

K.S.A. § 59-6a202 starts with only the supplemental amount before one year,
then increases the elective-share percentage from 3% after one year to 50% at
15 years. Multiple marriages to the same spouse are added together, but time
between those marriages is not counted.

The same section supplies a separate $100,000 supplemental calculation when
the listed spouse-property and payment sources fall below that amount. The
supplement is not simply a guaranteed $100,000 payment on top of the percentage;
it is the shortfall produced by § 59-6a202(b)'s formula.

Kansas uses all four augmented-estate components

Section 59-6a203 combines the decedent's net probate estate, transfers to
others, transfers to the spouse, and the spouse's own property and transfers.
The components then work as follows:

• § 59-6a204 subtracts funeral and administration expenses, homestead or
  its allowance, family allowances, and enforceable demands from probate.
• § 59-6a205 reaches named nonprobate transfers, including survivorship
  interests, death-transfer accounts, life insurance, retained-benefit and
  retained-power transfers, and certain transfers within two years of death.
• § 59-6a206 includes nonprobate property passing from the decedent to the
  spouse, except federal Social Security.
• § 59-6a207 includes the spouse's own property and hypothetical
  nonprobate transfers, valued at death and reduced by enforceable demands.
• § 59-6a208 excludes full-consideration and written-spouse-consented
  transfers, deducts demands against included property, uses commuted values,
  and prevents overlapping double counting.

Since July 1, 2026, HB 2590 adds a separate community-property-trust exclusion.
Section 7 states: "New Sec. 7. Upon the death of a spouse, 1/2 of the aggregate
value of the property held in a community property trust established by the
settlor spouses reflects the share of the surviving spouse and is not subject to
testamentary disposition by the decedent spouse or distribution under the laws
of succession of the state." That half belongs to the survivor and is not
included in the elective estate; the decedent spouse's other half remains
subject to the trust terms, testamentary disposition, or succession law.

The deadline has two clocks and a nonprobate trap

Section 59-6a211 uses the later of six months after death or six months after
the statutory notice. The petition is filed in court and mailed or delivered to
the personal representative. Section 59-2233 generally requires that notice,
with a copy of the will if any, within 10 days after the listed probate trigger.

Filing more than six months after death ordinarily removes the decedent's
nonprobate transfers to others from the calculation. To preserve them, the
spouse must petition for an extension and notify all interested nonprobate
recipients within six months after death; the court may then extend for good
cause. The petition may be withdrawn before final determination.

After court-ordered notice and a hearing, the court determines the amounts and
orders payment or contribution. K.S.A. § 59-6a209 and § 59-6a210 apply property
already passing to or owned by the spouse first, then apportion the balance
among probate and nonprobate recipients. Original recipients and later donees
still holding the property or proceeds may contribute property or value.

Right holders and waivers are not one-size-fits-all

K.S.A. § 59-6a212 permits the spouse, the personal representative of a deceased
surviving spouse, or the court for a disabled spouse to exercise the core
elective-share right. Conservators, agents, and guardians ad litem appear only
in subsection (b), for the supplemental amount, homestead, or statutory
allowance. § 59-2234 gives the incapacity court a commissioner-and-hearing
process and directs it to choose the more valuable or advantageous route.

K.S.A. § 59-6a213 allows whole or partial waiver before or after marriage in a
signed writing. Voluntariness and the combined unconscionability/disclosure
test control enforceability. General “all rights” language ordinarily reaches
elective benefits, but homestead and allowance rights require clear knowing
waiver language in documents executed from July 1, 2002 onward.

What trips people up

• Will benefits are credits, not automatically forfeited. Section
  59-6a209(a) applies testate and intestate property passing to the spouse first
  toward the share.
• The later notice clock does not automatically preserve nonprobate reach.
  A petition filed more than six months after death loses transfers to others
  unless the spouse timely obtained the § 59-6a211(b) extension route.
• The $100,000 amount is a formula. It fills the statutory shortfall after
  listed sources; it is not necessarily added in full to the percentage share.
• Community-property trusts have their own exclusion. Beginning July 1,
  2026, the survivor's one-half trust share is outside the elective estate under
  HB 2590 § 7.

Common questions

Does a marriage under one year produce zero? It produces no percentage
share, but § 59-6a202 still provides the supplemental-amount calculation.

Can an agent file the main elective-share petition? Section 59-6a212 does
not list an agent for the core elective-share amount. Its agent route is in the
separate subsection for supplemental, homestead, and allowance rights.

Can the spouse keep a devise under the will? Property passing under the
will is applied first to satisfy the share under § 59-6a209; the statute does
not make election a blanket forfeiture of that devise.

Is the homestead counted against the share? No. K.S.A. § 59-6a202(c) and
§ 59-6a215 make the homestead or $75,000 allowance additional to the elective
share; family allowance is also additional.

Statutes and sources

• K.S.A. § 59-6a202 — marriage schedule, $100,000 supplemental calculation,
  and additional benefits. Official Revisor
  (accessed 2026-08-02).
• K.S.A. §§ 59-6a203 to 59-6a208 — augmented-estate components,
  nonprobate categories, deductions, valuation, exclusions, and anti-overlap.
  Official Revisor, starting at § 59-6a203
  (accessed 2026-08-02).
• K.S.A. §§ 59-6a209 to 59-6a210 — satisfaction order, equitable
  apportionment, and recipient liability. Official
  Revisor
  (accessed 2026-08-02).
• K.S.A. § 59-6a211 — petition, two clocks, extension, withdrawal, notice,
  hearing, and enforcement. Official Revisor
  (accessed 2026-08-02).
• K.S.A. §§ 59-6a212 to 59-6a213 and § 59-6a215 — right holders, waiver,
  and homestead. Official Revisor, starting at §
  59-6a212
  (accessed 2026-08-02).
• K.S.A. §§ 59-2233 to 59-2234 — statutory notice and disabled-spouse court
  process. Official Revisor
  (accessed 2026-08-02).
• KS HB 2590 §§ 7 and 16 — current community-property-trust exclusion and
  statute-book-publication effective clause. Official enrolled
  bill
  (accessed 2026-08-08). The Kansas Revisor's official
  FAQ states that statutes are published
  on July 1 in the current legislative-session year (accessed 2026-08-08).