Also known as: exempt personal properties · personal property exemption · exempt property
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A statutory allowance of personal property that passes to a surviving spouse or minor children free from most creditor claims against the decedent's estate. The allowance operates independently of the elective share and is not charged against it. A surviving spouse may waive the allowance only by a signed written agreement that meets standards of voluntariness.
Elliot presents Dana with a written waiver of elective share, homestead, and exempt property rights while hospitalized before surgery. Dana signs under pressure from threats about creditors seizing their home. After Elliot's death, Dana seeks the exempt personal property allowance. The court refuses to enforce the waiver because Dana's consent was involuntary and the product of duress.
Catherine tampers with the plane controls before a flight with Dorothy and is later convicted of felonious conduct tied to the crash that kills Dorothy. Catherine claims exempt personal property from Dorothy's estate. The court holds that Catherine forfeits the allowance because she feloniously and intentionally killed the decedent.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A federal tax lien attaches to a taxpayer's interest in personal property that state law classifies as exempt. The surviving spouse claims the property as exempt personal property in probate. The court determines that the state exemption prevents the lien from reaching the allowance amount.
Ida attempts to have Joseph killed to end her maintenance obligation. After Joseph's death, Ida claims exempt personal property from the estate. The court rejects any implied waiver of the allowance because her conduct does not clearly relinquish the statutory right.
Yes. The allowances are independent entitlements and are not charged against the elective-share amount. A surviving spouse may therefore obtain both the fractional share of the augmented estate and the fixed exempt property allowance without reduction of one by the other.
Supporting sources
Yes. An individual who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent forfeits all benefits under the probate article, including exempt property. The estate then passes as if the killer had disclaimed the interest.
Supporting sources
The waiver is unenforceable. A surviving spouse may avoid a signed agreement by proving that consent was involuntary or the product of duress, even though the agreement requires no consideration to be valid.
Supporting sources
Rights to exempt property for a decedent who dies not domiciled in the state are governed by the law of the decedent's domicile at death.
Supporting sources
Yes. Unless the agreement provides otherwise, a complete property settlement entered into after or in anticipation of separation or divorce waives all rights to exempt property.
Supporting sources
…played in "creating and defining" property interests. By erasing the careful line between state laws that purport to disclaim or exempt property interests after the fact, which the federal tax lien does not respect, and state laws' definition of property and property rights, which the federal tax lien does respect, the Court does…