Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

Re: Widower looking to sell home

Well, the end result is probably yes, but you may have to jump through some hoops to get there.

First you should examine the deed. Does it include language like "joint tenants with right of survivorship" or "tenants by the entireties" ?

If it has any kind of language like that, and the language is correct, then the house automatically was transferred to you on your husband's death.

Thus you could sell the house together with a death certificate showing that you are the only surviving spouse.

If not, then you probably inherited it from him as inheritance. Are the children from the same marriage or from a different marriage?

If all the children are from your marriage to your husband, then you inherit the house 100%. If there are children from another marriage, then it gets complicated. You will take 1/3rd and they will take 2/3rd, if I remember the division properly.

(The theory is that your own children will inherit from you when you pass, but the children from another marriage would get cut out completely. So that is why there is a difference.)

But how do you document this to satisfy a buyer? Many buyers will probably accept the death certificate to show that you are the only remaning spouse.

If they want something more formal, then you have to go to the probate section of the Clerk of Court in the County where he lived at his death and "qualify" (get appointed) as Administrator (that is, executor) of his estate. As Administrator, you have authority to sell what belonged to him at his death.

So you would then sign for yourself, and then sign a 2nd time as Administrator of his estate, speaking for him.

But I would try it the easy way first. The title company, realtors, and settlement attorney should be smart enough to know all this. So see if it can be done the easy way first.

As Administrator, you would then