Florida law provides that a surviving spouse and/or the surviving children are entitled to a reasonable family allowance for maintenance during the pendency of the estate administration. The maximum allowable amount is $18,000. If there is a living spouse, the spouse is entitled to receive the money for her and any surviving children. If there are only surviving children, the children or their custodians are entitled to receive the family allowance.

A claim for family allowance does not have to be filed by any particular time frame. In filing a claim, it must be shown that the amount of your claim is reasonable, however you are not required to show that you are in financial need of the amount you claim. Family allowance is in addition to any rights to homestead property, exempt property, and elective share or intestate share.

Ms. Rountree has dealt with a variety of spousal right issues in probate proceedings and has successfully litigated and settled elective share, homestead, and family allowance disputes on behalf of her clients. Shannon L. Rountree, P.A. offers services to represent spouses and fiduciaries in connection with intestate share, elective share, homestead, family allowance, and exempt property claims.

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