Spousal Elective Share Requirements in Nebraska

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Share and right holder

Nebraska does not use a marriage-duration scale. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2313 permits “any fraction not in excess of one-half” of the augmented estate for the surviving spouse of a Nebraska domiciliary. Under § 30-2317, a petition that does not designate a smaller fraction defaults to one-half.

The right is personal during the spouse's lifetime. § 30-2315 allows an election for a protected person only by order of the court handling the protective proceeding, after the court evaluates best interests, life expectancy, family and successor interests, other resources, estate planning, tax effects, and other relevant factors.

Augmented-estate base and exclusions

Section 30-2314 begins with the probate estate after funeral and administration expenses, homestead and family allowances, exemptions, and enforceable claims. It then adds specified transfers made during the marriage when the decedent retained possession, enjoyment, income, revocation, or principal powers; survivorship property; and three-year gifts above $3,000 to a donee in a year.

The section also reaches specified property owned or transferred by the spouse and derived from the decedent. The statutory list includes trust interests, appointed property, life-insurance and annuity amounts, pensions and retirement benefits outside named federal systems, and community-property rights. Other spouse-owned property is included unless the spouse proves a source other than the decedent.

The statute excludes specified insurance, annuity, and pension property payable to someone other than the spouse, transfers for adequate consideration, and transfers made with the spouse's written consent. Irrevocable gifts use the date the donee first obtained possession or enjoyment; spouse transfers use the date they became irrevocable; property without another rule is valued at death.

Deadline, filing, notice, and withdrawal

The ordinary election deadline under § 30-2317 is the later of nine months after death or six months after probate of the will. The spouse must file the petition in court and mail or deliver it to the personal representative. A cause-based extension must be sought before the election time expires, and the petition may be withdrawn before final determination.

Nonprobate property has two additional statutory limits:

• § 30-2314(c)(3) excludes property transferred by or from the decedent outside will or intestacy if a petition is not filed or delivered within nine months after death.
• § 30-2317 excludes the decedent-transfer categories in § 30-2314(a)(1) if the petition is filed later than one year after death.

The spouse gives notice of the hearing's time and place to estate interests and to recipients whose interests would be adversely affected. After notice and hearing, the court determines the amount, orders payment or contribution, and may fix liability for property outside the personal representative's possession.

Waiver

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2316 permits a whole or partial waiver before or after marriage through a signed written contract, agreement, or waiver. The spouse may defeat enforcement by proving involuntary execution or by proving that the waiver was unconscionable when executed together with all three statutory disclosure, written-disclosure-waiver, and knowledge deficiencies.

Unless the document says otherwise, “all rights” language or a complete property settlement also waives homestead, exempt-property, and family allowances and renounces benefits that otherwise would pass through intestacy or an earlier will.

Payment and effect on existing benefits

Under § 30-2319, augmented-estate property already passing to the spouse and not renounced is credited first. The remaining liability is equitably apportioned among augmented-estate recipients in proportion to their interests. Original transferees or appointees, and their donees while holding the property or proceeds, may return the property or pay its statutory value.

Election alone does not reject the spouse's will or intestate benefits. Section 30-2318 requires an express renunciation in the petition; a renounced benefit is then treated as though the spouse predeceased the testator. The same section makes homestead, exempt property, and family allowance available whether or not the spouse elects.

For a death before January 1, 2027, § 30-2322 provides a $20,000 homestead allowance and § 30-2323 provides up to $12,500 in specified exempt property. Section 30-2324 separately provides a reasonable family allowance during administration, limited to one year when the estate cannot discharge allowed claims. For deaths on or after January 1, 2027, the first two amounts become $25,000 and $17,500.

What trips people up

• The later general deadline does not erase the nonprobate cutoffs. A six- month-after-probate date may arrive after the separate nine-month or one-year dates tied to nonprobate inclusion.
• One-half is a ceiling and a default. The petition may designate a smaller fraction; silence elects one-half.
• A will gift is not automatically forfeited. It remains and is credited toward the share unless the petition expressly renounces it.
• Spouse-owned property can enter the calculation. Section 30-2314 includes specified property derived from the decedent and can require the spouse to prove another source for other property.

Common questions

Does a short marriage reduce the percentage? No. The statutes state no marriage-length schedule; the selected fraction may be any amount up to one-half.

Can the spouse obtain more time after the deadline passes? Section 30-2317 requires a cause-based extension request before the election time expires.

Does an extension preserve every nonprobate asset? The statute separately states nine-month and one-year inclusion cutoffs. An extension of the ordinary election period should not be treated as changing those separate text-based limits without case-specific analysis.

Who pays an unsatisfied balance? After spouse-received property is credited, the remaining augmented-estate recipients contribute equitably in proportion to their interests, subject to the recipient-liability limits in § 30-2319(c).

Statutes and sources

• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2313 to 30-2315 — right, amount, augmented estate, domicile, and protected-person procedure. Nebraska Legislature (accessed 2026-09-03).
• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2316 to 30-2317 — waiver, petition, deadlines, notice, hearing, withdrawal, and enforcement. Nebraska Legislature (accessed 2026-09-03).
• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2318 to 30-2319 — effect on existing benefits, spouse-property credit, apportionment, and contribution liability. Nebraska Legislature (accessed 2026-09-03).
• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2322 to 30-2324 — homestead, exempt-property, and family allowances, including January 1, 2027 amounts. Nebraska Legislature (accessed 2026-09-03).