No Will/Children vs stepfather

[Trish814]

My father is deceased and my mother remarried. The deed to the house is still in my father's name and my mother's name. In the event of her death...will her husband get the house or will my brother and I? We still reside at the house and there is no will. I have lived in the house the majority of my life.

 

[dee_dub]

When your father died, the house passed to your mother as the other joint tenant. She may never have had the title registered solely to her, but that's effectively what happened.

In the event she dies, your mother's estate, including the house, will be divided between her spouse and her children. Exactly how depends on the intestacy laws in your state. Typically a surviving spouse gets something like the first $50,000 plus 1/3 of whatever remains, and the kids split the the other 2/3 that remains. I suspect that, if the house is the sole asset, your stepfather could force it to be sold and the proceeds divided.