Q: Do I have any rights to my ex-husband's property after his death?

A: Any rights to that property would have been determined in your divorce in 1999. His passing does not change that. Speak with a local family lawyer for more specific advice.

A: The division of your home should have been addressed in your divorce decree. Assuming that he retained sole title to the house after your divorce, you would not be entitled to it. However, you can always take your divorce decree and any other documents to an attorney in your town for a second, and perhaps better, opinion.

A: Under Florida law you have absolutely no legal rights to any portion of his estate or assets, unless he designates you as a beneficiary after your divorce was finalized.

A: Given the timeline, your rights to the property are likely limited. Since the home was purchased during your marriage in 1997, it may have been considered marital property at the time. But if the house was addressed in your divorce settlement in 1999—whether by awarding it to him or confirming it as his separate property—you may have given up any legal claim to it then.

After your divorce, any property he owned became part of his separate estate unless otherwise stated. Now that he’s passed away and had remarried, the rights to his property most likely pass to his current spouse and heirs through probate or a will, if he had one. Your past marriage alone doesn’t entitle you to a share of his estate unless the divorce settlement left some lingering interest or if your name remained on the deed or mortgage.

To be sure, you might want to review your divorce decree or property records to see if anything was left unresolved. But in most cases like yours, once a clean divorce is finalized and the property is transferred, former spouses no longer have legal ties to the estate. It’s tough to revisit the past during a moment like this, but it’s okay to ask these questions to get clarity.

A: Given that you divorced in 1999, your legal ties to your ex-husband’s property generally ended with that divorce, unless there was a specific clause in the divorce decree that addressed the home or future claims. Even though the house was purchased during your marriage in 1997, any division of assets—including that home—should have been addressed during the divorce proceedings. If the property was awarded to him or not mentioned, it was likely considered his sole property moving forward.

Now that he has passed away and had remarried, his current spouse and any heirs named in a will (or determined by law if no will exists) would be the ones with legal rights to his estate. As his former spouse, you wouldn’t have a claim to the home unless there was something unresolved or improperly handled during your divorce. If you weren’t awarded any portion of the property in the divorce, then your rights to it would have likely ended decades ago.

It’s natural to have questions when someone from your past passes away, especially when old property and relationships come into focus. Still, unless you can point to a specific legal agreement or oversight from the divorce, it’s unlikely you have a legal claim. You can always review your divorce documents to be sure, but based on what you’ve shared, the law probably sees this matter as closed.

A: Given that you divorced in 1999, your legal ties to your ex-husband’s property generally ended with that divorce, unless there was a specific clause in the divorce decree that addressed the home or future claims. Even though the house was purchased during your marriage in 1997, any division of assets—including that home—should have been addressed during the divorce proceedings. If the property was awarded to him or not mentioned, it was likely considered his sole property moving forward.

Now that he has passed away and had remarried, his current spouse and any heirs named in a will (or determined by law if no will exists) would be the ones with legal rights to his estate. As his former spouse, you wouldn’t have a claim to the home unless there was something unresolved or improperly handled during your divorce. If you weren’t awarded any portion of the property in the divorce, then your rights to it would have likely ended decades ago.

It’s natural to have questions when someone from your past passes away, especially when old property and relationships come into focus. Still, unless you can point to a specific legal agreement or oversight from the divorce, it’s unlikely you have a legal claim. You can always review your divorce documents to be sure, but based on what you’ve shared, the law probably sees this matter as closed.