Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in West Virginia
Spousal Rights
My step-father recently passed away. He was married to my mother fo 20 yrs, he did not work during this time (retired, collecting SSI $612.00 / mo), my mother worked the entire time, the house they live(d) in was his prior to the marriage. My mother has paid for repairs & taxes for this house; she supported him for the last 20 yrs w/ some minor exceptions of times when he had inherited some money. He had a very expensive lottery addiction ($100+ / day) and my mother had to get them out of debt because of this many times. He had no money, no car, no investments at the time of his death. The house was the only thing he had to leave to my mother but he has willed it to his 2 daughters. Does my mother have any right to the house or part of it?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Spousal Rights
Yes, your mother should have a right to claim one third of the assets in the estate left by her now deceased husband which, needless to say, would include the marital home.(I say marital home, because, with all of your mother's apparent contributions to the property during the course of the marriage, this property would no longer have belonged soley to the decedent under applicable Virginia law.)
Re: Spousal Rights
And this would also very likely be true under the applicable laws of West Virginia.
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