Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The property of a spouse (whether husband or wife) who dies intestate (without a will) is divided according to the law of "intestate succession" which is set forth in the Probate Code at sections 6400 to 6407 and is also mentioned in sections 7000 and 7001.

Basically, the surviving spouse gets all of the community property of the deceased spouse, but the separate property (probably the property in her maiden name would be separate property) is divided depending upon how many and what kind of relatives the deceased spouse has. If the deceased spouse has NO surviving children, parents, brother, sister, neice or nephew, the surviving spouse again gets all the separate property, BUT IF the deceased spouse has close kin of the types mentioned, the surviving spouse will get either one-half or one-third of the separate property in the estate. Whether it is 1/2 or 1/3 depends upon the number and closeness of the kinfolk.

If the need a more precise figure, you can re-ask your question specifying the number and relationship of the children, parents, etc. that survive the wife.

Note that the rules work exactly the same whether the question is about a deceased wife or a deceased husband. There is no sexism in the inheritance laws any more. Men and women, wives and husbands, first-born sons and last-born daughters are all treated exactly the same.