1. if the husband leaves a will

go by the will. The only exception is that the hu*****and in most of the state, if not all, cannot completely disinherit the wife. The wife can elect to receive her elective share or whatever the hu*****and leaves him, whichever is greater.
2. if the hu*****and leaves no will, go by the state intestacy law. Say in new york, the wife takes the first $50,000 and half of the rest. The other half goes to the children. If there is no children, everything goes to the wife.
3. if there is anything jointly owned by survivorship, the wife takes it by default.

One thing from Single Cat to correct, whatever wife takes is exempted from estate tax. That is called marriage exemption.

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• Thank you so much. -xsy135- ♀ (21 bytes) () 06/05/2009 postreply 05:42:17