Waring, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

If there is a valid Will, the Will is the presumption of your father's intent. The child can always challenge the Will's validity but this is difficult.

Your lawyer is correct. However, if the bank will not accept the court order appointing you as executor, it's faster, cheaper, and easier to just provide them with a copy of the death certificate. Otherwise, you will have to haul them into probate court and have the court order them to recognize you as executor.

Whether or not you had children together is irrelevant.  Whether he had a child with someone else affects how his separate real property, if any, passes under the Texas laws of descent (real estate) and distribution (personal property). Pensions, 401(k)s and IRAs pass to the designated beneficiaries.  If you are named as the beneficiary, they pass to you.  If no beneficiary is named, pensions pass according to the rules of the pension plan, 401(k)s pass to the surviving spouse and IRAs pass to the estate.  Since IRAs are usually created with community assets, they are usually viewed as community property.  The surviving spouse retains her 50% community property interest.  The deceased spouse's community property interest passes according to his Will or, if there is none, according to the Texas laws of descent and distribution. In Texas, even if the home was separate property, purchased before the marriage and paid for with separate funds, the surviving spouse has a right to live in it for life. Please see a local probate attorney about probating (proving) your husband's estate.