Question:
Can you tell me if husband inherits his wife for money that she receives after she dies? The exact case I am dealing with is a women who died in a car crash and the family can now sue for a large settlement. Al pi din, does her husband inherit her or her father? There are no children.
Answer:
A husband does not inherit from his wife any property that comes to her after she dies (Shulchan Aruch, Even Ha’ezer 90:1), and so her father would inherit her if there are no children.
However, money received after her death when the family sues for a settlement is not considered as the wife’s at all, and therefore no-one inherits her. Whoever the defendant settles with (and presumably that will depend on secular law) is entitled to keep the money.
[Money received from a life insurance policy will go to her designated beneficiary. It is not regarded as a loan which is inherited by her yorshim, but rather as a loan with an instruction to the insurance company to pay the designated beneficiary and with that the company will be released from the loan.]
