Statutory Legacy

When a person dies intestate leaving both a spouse (or de facto partner) and children who are not also the spouse's, many states give the surviving partner a guaranteed lump sum — the statutory legacy — plus the personal chattels, before the rest of the estate is divided. It is designed to protect the surviving partner so they are not forced to share a modest estate down to nothing with the children.

The dollar figure is set by each state's legislation and is indexed over time, so the amount differs by state and by year of death. In NSW, for example, the spouse also takes the whole estate where all the children are children of that spouse, so the statutory legacy mainly matters in blended families. Example: The surviving partner received the statutory legacy and the household contents first, and only the remaining residue was shared with the deceased's children from an earlier relationship.