---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO PROBATE PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - ELECTIVE SHARE (Clarifies the right of a surviving spouse of a decedent regarding elective shares taken against the decedent's will relating to real and personal estate to the estates of decedents dying on and after July 1, 2018.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO PROBATE PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - ELECTIVE SHARE (Clarifies the right of a surviving spouse of a decedent regarding elective shares taken against the decedent's will relating to real and personal estate to the estates of decedents dying on and after July 1, 2018.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 2285"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 2285 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Probate Practice", "Property", "Wills and Trusts"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jabour", "Lombardi", "Lynch Prata", "McCaffrey", "Nesselbush"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-02-01"
last_action: "2018-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d50ad9e7-0008-4d9b-bf6a-58fcbcd5d8ca"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "8c2d0047e460a685142fa33734fef056e630728233ab2fef4a480601bbcd0b5c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ri"]
---

# Rhode Island SB 2285 (2018) — AN ACT RELATING TO PROBATE PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - ELECTIVE SHARE (Clarifies the right of a surviving spouse of a decedent regarding elective shares taken against the decedent's will relating to real and personal estate to the estates of decedents dying on and after July 1, 2018.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **2285** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText18/SenateText18/S2285.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **69–2** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **36–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jabour — primary (person)
- Lombardi — primary (person)
- Lynch Prata — primary (person)
- McCaffrey — primary (person)
- Nesselbush — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-02-01** 02/01/2018 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-02-09** 02/09/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/15/2018)
- **2018-02-15** 02/15/2018 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2018-06-01** 06/01/2018 Scheduled for consideration (06/05/2018)
- **2018-06-05** 06/05/2018 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-06** 06/06/2018 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/12/2018)
- **2018-06-12** 06/12/2018 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2018-06-13** 06/13/2018 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-16** 06/16/2018 Scheduled for consideration (06/19/2018)
- **2018-06-19** 06/19/2018 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-21** 06/21/2018 Placed on House Calendar (06/22/2018)
- **2018-06-22** 06/22/2018 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2018-07-02** 07/02/2018 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-07-02** 07/02/2018 Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d50ad9e7-0008-4d9b-bf6a-58fcbcd5d8ca`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).