Can You Waive Your Spousal Rights

Can a husband or wife waive their spousal rights or their inheritance rights to the other spouse estate.
Hello, my name is John Pankauski, I’m a Estate and litigation attorney with Pankauski Hauser in downtown West Palm Beach. Can a spouse a husband or a wife waive their rights to inherit from their spouses estate, their husband or their wife’s estate. Remember when you are in Florida, if you are a spouse unless you have waived your rights you get a guaranteed inheritance from your spouse. So when that spouse dies, your guaranteed you are going to get a fixed percentage of that persons estate, whether its a will or a trust or regardless what the will or trust says. So, what about waiving those rights. Can you waive spousal rights, can you waive inheritance rights. The answer is yes but you need to do it correctly. So, if you want spouse to waive rights talk to a family marital lawyer or talk to a probate lawyer who is actually familiar with that because you do have to jump through some hoops. You can also read the Florida Probate code section 732.70. Now , by the same token, if you are a spouse and you are being asked to waive certain rights, understand what that means and what you are giving up and quantify that. Both now and at the time of the expected passing. Your spousal rights are very valuable and you should understand what you are signing and ensure that writing is valid or not. Some people may think they have given up their inheritance rights but they actually don’t because the writing is invalid under Florida Law. My name is john Pankauski and this concludes my remarks about this important probate topic.