The law does not allow husbands to disinherit their wives and leave them destitute, so the law sets out a portion of her husband's estate that a widow is entitled to.   So if a widow finds that she would be better off with what the law provides than what the will provided, then the widow would renounce the will and take the legally-prescribed share.

Typically a husband would want to tie up an estate because he feared his widow would not be able to take care of it.  He might try to leave it in trust or leave it to his older sons, but the widow would renounce the will to get the better share.






Bill Davis
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