What will happen to the property after my divorced spouse dies? 8 Answers as of January 07, 2012

At first glance, it appears as if the home was determined to be marital property at the time of your divorce. If that is true, then your husband is entitled to half an interest in the property. Now that he has passed, his estate now owns half an interest in the property. You mentioned that your husband suffered from dementia prior to his death. Even if you claimed that his will was not valid due to lack of mental capacity, assuming there were no other previous wills, the property would pass through intestate succession to an heir. You would still lose his interest in the home.

If the Will is admitted to probate, his one half of the property will pass pursuant to his Will. You would receive the other one half pursuant to the divorce decree. Was the decree recorded? Even if the Will is not admitted to probate, the property would not go to you. It would pass to his next of kin, i.e. his children or if they are deceased grandchildren. You should probably speak with an attorney about your situation.

The divorce decree ordering that the property be sold and the proceeds divided remains in effect. At your ex-husband's death, he owned the right to a share of the proceeds of sale. Assuming that his Will was properly executed, he left his grandchildren his right to one-half the proceeds of sale.

You need to consult with an attorney right away. You may need to revisit the property division in the divorce, and you certainly need to discuss how the will affects your property rights and also the property order in the divorce. This is complicated, and the facts are really unclear in your question. First, you said the house was given to you, if title was transferred to your name, then the will does not affect it. If it was not transferred, then there are other issues. Like many attorneys we will sit down and review your situation with you without charge. Your best bet is to find a good lawyer who provides advice on this kind of issue on a regular basis and review your specific facts; the lawyer will be able to give you an analysis of the law and your options.

Whatever your divorce decree says is what happens. There are no do-overs in law. You have the decree and no one here does, so the answer is whatever the judge says. Nothing else affects the answer.

You need to have a family law attorney review the Judgment and the state of the title on the property and advise you on what will happen now.

The court order must be followed. It will survive his death. His Will is the controlling document after his death. The Will can be challenged if he was not competent to make it. The Power of Attorney will not allow the attorney-in-fact to make a Will for him. The Power of Attorney can help with the financial affairs of the incapacitated adult as long as it is for the benefit of the disabled adult and during his lifetime. The Power of Attorney ends when the principal dies. I need more information before I can give a complete answer.

Unless the divorce decree says otherwise, his estate will have all of the rights that he would have had-including the interest in the home awarded to him. His will, assuming it is valid, will direct where his assets go after probate or small estate affidavit. If he has no valid will and did not remarry, his assets would ultimately go to his children if any; if there are no surviving children, his assets would go to his grandchildren.