So the partner would maintain their share and the widow would only be able to lay claim to her portion, assuming other heirs aren't involved.

like many i have in the day I was at the street level and actually talked to these folks one on one.. there are  wide variety of issues and stories.main ones are divorce.. loss of job  health garden variety mismanage. and some very sad ones the ones that really would get me is back in the pre 08 days you could have a 75 year old retire widow with her delightful adult children living in the home and talk her into refinancing it with a nija loan..

This is my families property and it needs to sell so my recently widowed grandmother can invest the money into building accommodation for her to move in with other family so she is not alone, and remove the tax and upkeep  burden of this property from her.The current listing from some realtor but it is not completely correct..zillow doesn't even have it on the right place on the map..Their are actually 2 seperate properties here that are supposed to be listed.The one is the 13 acres with the creek but is uncleared land but has good access.

She is recently widowed.

Tax basis is 1960 and under prop 13, so I assume it's $800 a year behind.It's my understanding the step mother widow has been willed the property, hates the kids living in the house and may sell the house after probate. 

The attorney may be thinking that the widow can claim the overage at the tax sale. 

Because a new roof is let's say 12k and new widows (with new trim) let's say 8k.

Daryl Luc,  I know two people who got into trouble with the Feds by setting such limits,  as it effectively violates the family status portion of the Fair Housing Act.But I will say...my mom was a widow with 7 kids....we were damn hard on that house.  

I have a 3/2 home with a widow lady renting it.

So my sister who is widowed just found out that her husbands brother signed over a duplex to him for $1 before his passing away about 4yrs ago.