Comments on: What a surviving spouse gets under Oklahoma law

By: Shawn Roberts

Shawn Roberts — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:55:43 +0000

It sounds like in your situation the letter the rule would have allowed your father’s wife to stay in the marital home, but that wouldn’t have honored the spirit of the rule.

Shawn

By: S.L. Pulley

S.L. Pulley — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 05:37:14 +0000

Thank you for your response to my question dated March 18, 2012. You’re absolutely correct that the statute mentioned could probably “use a bit of refresh!” What does it take for an update to occur in keeping with the times?

Also, just to clarify, the home owned by my father (now legally belonging to my brother and me) was the sole property of my father, although his second spouse did inhabit it for several years prior to separating from him and living elsewhere (she had an apartment) for the last 6-1/2 years prior to my father’s death. That she (his second wife) had a completely separate home made it really “unnecessary” for her to reinhabit my father’s house. The Oklahoma Statute was written to protect a widow from being “homeless” after the death of her husband during a time when it was not “usual” for wives to have careers/jobs and be financially independent.

By: shawnjroberts

shawnjroberts — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:27:42 +0000

Sandra, Thank you for reading the article and the comment. While I can't give you specific legal advice based on your comment, I can say that the right to stay in (or move back into) the house is based on the house being the marital homestead. If there is a prenuptial agreement and the home is not owned by either spouse, it seem questionable whether the surviving spouse could move back in. As for the statute (58 O.S. sec. 311), it was last updated in 1953 and your right, it could probably use a bit of refresh.

By: Sandra Lynn Pulley

Sandra Lynn Pulley — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:00:05 +0000

In Oklahoma, when a surviving spouse is a “second” spouse who signed an antenuptual agreement, AND when the surviving spouse and the “now deceased” spouse were still both living, the couple had been separated and living in completely separate households for more than six years at the time of the deceased person’s death, is the surviving spouse truly entitled to move BACK into the home (house) if the deceased’s heirs (his children) are the legal owners of the property and house? FYI, the surviving spouse was never an owner of the house/property, as it belonged wholly to the now deceased spouse. The Oklahoma statute is clearly antiquated and was written at a time when people did not marry and divorce or separate as is so common these days. Has this statute been updated EVER, and what needs to happen for it to become more current and in keeping with the times?