A husband purchased a land and had it titled to his name and his daughter's.?

Question

Naturally, the father and daughter were co-owners. Later on, the husband died. What are rights of the wife? Can she inherit a portion of the said property? If so, can she donate whatever she may have inherited?

What are laws shall govern?

Answer 1

check with a lawyer...

Answer 2

If the husband left the land (his share in it) to his wife in his will then it becoems her part.  Otherwise the full rights to the land go to the surviving owner, the daughter.  How do you decide what part of the land is "donated"?  

Answer 3

OK, several issues here.  If the deed by which the father and daughter specified that there was survivorship between them, or if it was otherwise titled in such a way that the law of the state says there was surviviorship, then once the father died the daughter owned the property.  If there was no survivorship created by the deed or state law, then the daughter still owns her half and the wife likely inherited part of the father's share, depending on the state's intestate laws.  By the intestate laws in my state (NC) in that situation, if the daughter in question was the father's only child, then the wife would inherit half of the father's half and the daughter would inherit half of the father's half, so the daughter would end up owning a three-fourths interest in the land and the wife would end up owning a one-fourth interest in the land.  The wife can give whatever interest she inherited to anyone she wants, but only whatever interest she inherited, which can't be answered without more information.  Of course, this doesn't take into account that in some states spouses have rights to claim part of their deceased spouse's estate regardless of what title or the will or anything else says, so it's conceivable that the wife could have had a right to claim an interest in the property even if the deed did say survivorship with the daughter.

Answer 4

She would inherit her husband's share only. The daughter would be the other co-owner.

Answer 5

Generally, a wife will inherit the assets of the deceased husband. In this case, that should include the husband's interest in this land.