Spousal Elective Share Requirements in Texas

At a glance

What Texas does instead

Texas does not provide a general elective share or a right to renounce a will for a fixed fraction. The current official Estates Code contains no elective- share, augmented-estate, statutory-share, or surviving-spouse-election provision. Its rules instead separate the two spouses' ownership interests in community property.

Section 101.052 describes “the undivided one-half interest that the surviving spouse owned” and separately “the undivided one-half interest that the deceased spouse owned.” The deceased spouse's half passes to the deceased spouse's heirs or devisees, subject to the liabilities stated in the section. The survivor's half is not a percentage elected from the decedent's estate.

Section 101.001 supplies the ordinary will route: property devised by a lawful will vests immediately in the devisees, and property not devised vests in the heirs at law, subject to § 101.051. No separate elective-share instrument, deadline, extension, withdrawal, or contribution process overlays that route.

What trips people up

• One-half of the community estate is not one-half of the decedent's estate. The survivor's half is an existing ownership interest. Texas does not use it as a percentage floor against the decedent's separate property or other assets.
• Administration does not create an elective share. Section 101.052(c) permits community property to be administered under other Estates Code provisions, but the same section continues to distinguish the survivor's and deceased spouse's undivided halves.
• A form labeled an “election” does not create a statutory election. The current Estates Code supplies no general spouse election against a will.

Common questions

Can a Texas spouse file an election against the will? No. The complete current Estates Code has no general elective-share procedure. The governing starting point for community property is the ownership split recognized in § 101.052.

Can the deceased spouse's will dispose of the survivor's community half? Section 101.052 distinguishes the half the survivor owned from the half the deceased spouse owned and says the deceased spouse's half passes to heirs or devisees. The survivor does not need an elective share to keep the survivor's own half.

Why can community property appear in an estate administration? Section 101.052(c) says the section does not prohibit administration of community property under other Estates Code provisions. That procedural administration does not change the section's ownership distinction.

Statutes and sources

• Texas Estates Code, complete official code — the current PDF is dated April 10, 2026. A complete text search found no elective-share, augmented- estate, will-renunciation, statutory-share, or surviving-spouse-election provision. Official code PDF (accessed 2026-08-02).
• Tex. Est. Code § 101.001 — ordinary vesting under a lawful will or by intestacy; enacted by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 680, Sec. 1, effective January 1, 2014. Official chapter 101 (accessed 2026-08-02).
• Tex. Est. Code § 101.052 — community-property liabilities, each spouse's undivided half, passage of the deceased spouse's half, and estate administration; amended by Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 205, Secs. 8–9, effective September 1, 2023. Official chapter 101 (accessed 2026-08-02).