Q: When a house is sold does the money remain part of the original owners estate.
My mother's husband left her the home they lived in as well as some stocks. When she sells the house is the money from the sale still part of his estate or does it become part of her estate.
A: If it was left to her then she now should own it free and clear and is free to treat the house or the proceeds of the sale as 100% her property. What you really need to find out is whether she actually did end up owning the house 100%. But it is likely this was the case if the house was titled in both her and her husband's name as "husband and wife" or if it said that they owned it "joint and survivor" or "as tenants in the entirety". Any of these designations would have created a right to own the house 100% by being the survivor if the other spouse/owner died. This type of transfer by survivorship is independent of any Will. In other words, it will transfer ownership to the surviving spouse regardless of whether there is a Will and regardless of what the Will states. People are often confused over this and this is why getting legal advice from an attorney to do proper estate planning is the most important thing. The document called a "Will" doesn't control all outcomes for property when someone dies.
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