Tennessee § 31-4-102 - Proceeding for elective share — Time limit.

§ 31-4-102. Proceeding for elective share — Time limit.

The surviving spouse may elect to take the spouse's elective share in decedent's property by filing in the court and mailing or delivering to the personal representative, if any, a petition for the elective share within nine (9) months after the date of death. When the title of the surviving spouse to property devised or bequeathed by the will is involved in litigation pending so that an election to take the elective share cannot be advisedly made, the survivor shall have an additional year from the date of the probate of the will within which to elect; provided, that the court may upon a proper showing further extend the time to meet the exigency of litigation, not concluded, and, that application for allowance of additional time, in either case, be made to the court, for record of its action thereon. The court shall give notice of the time and place set for hearing to persons interested in the estate and to the distributees and recipients of portions of the decedent's estate whose interests will be adversely affected by the taking of the elective share. The surviving spouse may withdraw a demand for an elective share at any time before entry of a final determination by the court. After notice and hearing, the court shall determine the elective share and shall order its distribution and/or vesting to the surviving spouse or the spouse's personal representative. If it appears that a fund or property has been distributed by the personal representative, the court nevertheless shall fix the liability of any person who has any interest in the fund or property or who has possession of the fund or property, whether as trustee or otherwise. The proceeding may be maintained against fewer than all persons against whom relief could be sought, but no person is subject to contribution in any greater amount than the person would have been if relief had been secured against all persons subject to contribution. The order or judgment of the court may be enforced as necessary in suit for contribution or payment in other courts of this state or other jurisdictions. Acts 1976, ch. 529, § 1; 1977, ch. 25, § 3; T.C.A., §§ 31-603, 31-618; Acts 1985, ch. 140, § 29; 2002, ch. 735, § 5; 2007, ch. 13, § 4. Textbooks. Pritchard on Wills and Administration of Estates (4th ed., Phillips and Robinson), §§ 31, 36, 297, 402, 647, 814-816, 1075. Tennessee Forms (Robinson, Ramsey and Harwell), Nos. 4-1108, 4-1109. Tennessee Jurisprudence, 9 Tenn. Juris., Descent and Distribution, § 12; 12 Tenn. Juris., Executors and Administrators, §§ 26, 30; 25 Tenn. Juris., Wills, § 166. Law Reviews. Conveyances Affecting the Surviving Spouse's Elective Share: Tennessee's Past and a Look to the Future, 57 Tenn. L. Rev. 677 (1990). Descent and Distribution — Fraudulent Conveyances — Intent to Deprive Surviving Spouse of His or Her Distributive or Elective Share, 50 Tenn. L. Rev. 551 (1983). Survey of Tennessee Property Law, II. Estates in General (Toxey H. Sewell), 46 Tenn. L. Rev. 161 (1979). Survey of Tennessee Property Law, V. Trusts (Beverly A. Rowlett), 48 Tenn. L. Rev. 95 (1981).