Also known as: supplemental elective share amounts
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An additional statutory entitlement payable to a surviving spouse when the sum of the marital-property portion of the augmented estate plus amounts already received falls below a fixed minimum threshold. The amount equals the statutory floor minus that sum and is satisfied from the decedent's net probate estate and nonprobate transfers to others according to the priority rules in the governing statute. Any remaining unsatisfied balance is treated as a general pecuniary devise for abatement purposes.
Sebastian Santos died leaving his surviving spouse Stella Shapiro with only $20,000 in marital-property assets already received. The regular elective-share calculation produced another $30,000. Because the combined total remained below the statutory floor, Stella received a supplemental elective-share amount of $25,000 drawn first from Sebastian's net probate estate and qualifying nonprobate transfers in proportion to the recipients' interests.
After Sasha Stone received her regular elective share and marital-property portion, the total still fell short of the minimum. The remaining supplemental amount was satisfied by applying the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, with liability apportioned among the recipients in proportion to the value of their interests so that each contributed ratably until the floor was reached.
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The amount equals the statutory minimum minus the sum of the marital-property portion already received, amounts passing to the spouse by succession, and the regular elective-share amount. If that difference is positive, the spouse receives the difference as a supplemental amount.
Supporting sources
It is paid first from the decedent's net probate estate (excluding assets already passing to the spouse) and from nonprobate transfers to others under the priority categories, with liability apportioned proportionally among the recipients according to the value of their interests.
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Any remaining unsatisfied balance is treated as a general pecuniary devise for purposes of the abatement rules under Section 3-904.
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Yes. The supplemental amount is designed to ensure a minimum level of assets for the surviving spouse and rests on a support rationale separate from the partnership theory underlying the regular elective share.
Supporting sources
…under [N.D.C.C. § 30.1-05-03(2) and (3)] is less than seventy-five thousand dollars, the surviving spouse is entitled to a supplemental elective-share amount equal to seventy-five thousand dollars minus the sum of the amounts described in those sections. The supplemental elective-share amount is payable from the decedent’s…