Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas
Mother passes away, Father remarries
My mother passed away 4 years ago without a will. Immediately following her death, I signed my portion of my mother's estate over to my father. My father has a will and has willed his and my mother's home to me. My father is planning to remarry. If he dies before his new wife, what are my legal rights to the house and the items inside it that belonged to my parents prior to the new marriage? I have been told that the new wife would have a legal right to live in the house for the rest of her life. Is that true?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Mother passes away, Father remarries
Your legal rights will, in large part, be determined by what your father puts in his will that he prepares after he re-marries. If he doesn't make a new will, then your step-mother will take under intestacy, and that will give her an undivided 1/3 life estate in the house, and an undivided 1/3 interest in the rest of the property. Her life estate will allow her to live in the house for the rest of her life.