If real estate is deeded to wife only, and there is no indication whether she is married, is the husband an automatically heir if she dies?

I believe in every state in the U.S. the husband is an heir of his wife. But, can she disinherit her husband? Maybe. If real estate is titled in the wife's name only, she can sell whenever she wishes; or make a gift of the property to whomever she wishes.

Is anyone else deeded on the property ? If there is no one else listed the property will go into their estate if there is no will.

In most states the wife and any children will be the heirs. But the probate laws of each state in the US make the laws on this.

Deeds do not show if a person is married, it merely lists the name of the owner.

First you need to look at the wording of the deed. The deed may indicate who gets the property. If the deed is in the name of one individually only (as in the case you cite), then the property goes into the estate of that person upon death.

How the estate is then distributed depends on whether there was a will or not. If there is a will that specifically mentions the property, its distributed according to the terms of the will.

However, if the person dies intestate (without a will) then the laws of inheritance for your area apply. You can find those laws here:

Missouri Intestacy Statute Excerpts (http://www.mystatewill.com/statutes/sample_mo.htm)

Basically, the surviving spouse gets $20K off the top and half the rest.

So, to answer your question, unless the deed specifies a surviving owner or a will bequeaths the property directly then it goes into the deceased's estate. It does not go directly to any of the heirs of the deceased.

The executor of the estate must then determine how to distribute the assets of the estate according to the will or intestancy laws. The executor could decide to sell all non csh assets and then distribute the proceeds. Or they could determine the value of non cash assets and distribute them as a non cash asset as long as the estate is distributed legally.

If real estate is deeded to wife only, and there is no indication whether or not she is married, is the husband an automatically heir if she dies?



You said you consulted with an Attorney - what did the Attorney say?

From Missouri website: "A common misconception is that all property of an intestate decedent passes directly to a surviving spouse. The fact is, under Missouri law, an intestate decedent's surviving spouse receives the entire estate only if the decedent had no surviving children. If the decedent had children who survive, the surviving spouse receives:

The first $20,000 of the estate, plus half the balance of the estate, if all of the decedent's surviving children are also children of the surviving spouse.
Half of the estate if there are surviving children of the deceased spouse, one or more of whom are not children of the surviving spouse."