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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>75301</law_id><section_number>64.2-302</section_number><catch_line>When and how elective share may be claimed by surviving spouse</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>64.2-1805</reference><reference>64.2-2022</reference><reference>64.2-303</reference><reference>64.2-311</reference><reference>64.2-317</reference><reference>64.2-556</reference><reference>64.2-632</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="64.2">Wills, Trusts, and Fiduciaries</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="II">Wills and Decedents' Estates</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="3">Rights of Married Persons</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="1">Elective Share of Surviving Spouse</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> A surviving spouse may claim an elective share regardless of whether (i) any provision for the surviving spouse is made in the decedent&#x2019;s <span class="dictionary">will</span> or (ii) the decedent dies intestate. <a id="paragraph-270362" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/64.2-302/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> The surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled in the Commonwealth may claim an elective share in the decedent&#x2019;s augmented estate within six months from the later of (i) the time of the admission of the decedent&#x2019;s <span class="dictionary">will</span> to probate or (ii) the qualification of an administrator on the decedent&#x2019;s intestate estate. The claim to an elective share shall be made either in person before the <span class="dictionary">court</span> having <span class="dictionary">jurisdiction</span> over administration of the decedent&#x2019;s estate, or by a writing recorded in the <span class="dictionary">court</span> or the clerk&#x2019;s office thereof, upon such acknowledgment or proof as would authorize a writing to be admitted to record under Chapter 6 (&#xA7; <a class="law" title="When and where writings recorded" href="/55.1-600/">55.1-600</a> et seq.) of Title 55.1. <a id="paragraph-270363" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/64.2-302/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="C"><p><span class="prefix-number">C.</span> The right, if any, of the surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled outside of the Commonwealth to take an elective share based upon the <span class="dictionary">value</span> of property in the Commonwealth is governed by the <span class="dictionary">law</span> of the decedent&#x2019;s domicile at death. <a id="paragraph-270364" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/64.2-302/#C"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 64-13; 1968, c. 656, &#xA7; 64.1-13; 1990, c. 831; 1995, c. 211; 2012, c. 614.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
