Augmented estate

What it means

A spouse who is left out of a will can usually claim a statutory share instead. If that share were measured against the probate estate alone, it could be defeated by moving everything into joint accounts and beneficiary designations.

The augmented estate adds those non-probate transfers back in for the purposes of the calculation, so the share is measured against something closer to what the couple actually had.

Why it matters

It is the reason an elective share can reach money that never went through probate at all.

It also explains why the number a family calculates from the probate inventory is often wrong.

When you are likely to meet it

• When a surviving spouse considers claiming against the will.
• In states that follow the Uniform Probate Code's approach to the elective share.

How this varies by state

Not every state uses an augmented estate, and those that do include different transfers in it.

Related terms

• Community propertyIn some states, most of what a married couple acquires during the marriage belongs to both of them equally, whatever the paperwork says.
• Elective shareA surviving spouse's right to claim a minimum portion of the estate, even if the will leaves them less or nothing.
• EstateEverything the person owned at the moment they died, treated as one thing that has to be settled.
• Gross estateEverything counted before anything is subtracted — which is not the same as what the family ends up with.
• Non-probate assetSomething that passes to a new owner automatically, without a court.
• Probate assetSomething owned in the deceased person's name alone, with nobody named to receive it.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• If there is no will