My spouse died and left a will leaving his assets to me and my children. Do we have to probate the will?
The answer to that is yes. However, there are some conditions under which you may not have to probate the will because if the estate planning was done and there’s an estate plan that will allow the passage of property by operation of the law without the necessity for probate to go to the spouse and the children. However, if there are assets in the sole name of your spouse those assets would in fact have to be probated in order to go to you the spouse and/or the children.