Leander, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

There are too many issues here to easily answer. There is no such thing as common law bigomy, so your mother was your father's wife and next of kin when he passed.

If you provide the bank with a certified copy of your letter of office that should be sufficient to gain access to any bank account held in your husband's name. If the bank account was a joint account the account would not be in your husband's estate. It would be owned by the surviving joint tenant. The death certificate would give them authority to turn the account over to the surviving joint tenant. As the executrix you can require the bank to provide you with information on all of his accounts, including the title on all of his accounts.

It's completely up to your aunt at this point. The fact that an asset is identified in her Will today is entirely irrelevant. Your aunt's Will becomes effective when two things happen: (1) she dies, and (2) the document is admitted to probate. Before those two events occur, your aunt can do whatever she chooses to do with either piece of property.