I recently sat down with a sweet lady who had just lost her husband.  They had lived in their home for over 30 years and now she wanted to sell it and move in with one of her children.  She needed and was expecting to receive all of the proceeds from the sale of the house.  After all, she and her husband bought the home and wanted for each other to be taken care of "when the time came."

Unfortunately, her husband died without a will and it's a little more complicated than that.  Texas has a probate code that lines out what happens when someone dies without a will.  I've been involved in situations where the spouse left behind gets all of the proceeds from the sale of the home and sometimes it doesn't work that way.

Many assume that if they are married and die without a will that their surviving spouse will inherit their entire estate.  NOT always so.

There are many variables on how an estate is distributed (without a will) depending on whether the deceased is single...divorced...had children...had step-children and so on.  The bottom line is to take the "what if" out of your situation, please get a will.  You can see an attorney and get a will drafted without a lot of expense.  I'm certainly not a lawyer and only addressing a few possible scenarios here so the best solution is to be safe. 

With 15 years in the real estate business, I do like helping people who have lost a loved one to get their home sold.  It makes it so much nicer for my clinets to take the guess work out of "who gets the money" by having a will.  Please help your family and loved ones by getting a will.  Let me know if I can help!