In the Matter of the Estate of James Edwin Ibeling

Summary

The court held that a surviving spouse's elective share does not include property owned by a Panamanian private interest foundation because the foundation is a separate legal entity governed by a distinct legal regime, not a revocable trust. The elective-share statute exhaustively identifies the property subject to the share, and the court declined to expand that list to include entities resembling trusts. The court affirmed the decisions below.