1,597. A Woman Who Reports That Her Husband Has Died
Hilchos Ishus 16:30
If a woman produces two gets and one kesubah, she can only collect the value of one kesubah. This is because if a man divorces and remarries his wife without any specific conditions, then he remarries her based on the terms of the original kesubah. If a woman produces a get and a kesubah after her husband’s death, then if the get is dated before the kesubah, in a place where the local practice is not to write a kesubah, she can collect the baseline amount with the get and the entire amount of the second kesubah. This is because she acquires the amount in her second kesubah through her husband's death. If the kesubah is dated earlier than the get, she can collect her kesubah once. This is because of the presumption that her husband remarried her based on the terms of her original kesubah.
Hilchos Ishus 16:31
If a woman reports that her husband died, she is believed in order to remarry. One of the conditions in the kesubah is that if a woman remarries after her husband dies, she can still collect the entire amount of her kesubah. Therefore, if she comes to court claiming that her husband died and seeking permission to remarry without mentioning money owed her because of the kesubah, permission is granted. Later, she takes an oath and is paid the value of her kesubah. However, if she comes to court saying that her husband died and she wants to be paid the value of her kesubah, her word is not sufficient, not even to remarry. Here the presumption is that her husband has not died and she has only come to try to collect money while her husband is still alive. If she comes to court saying that her husband died and asking for permission to remarry and to be paid the value of her kesubah, then she is allowed to remarry and is paid her kesubah under the assumption that her main objective is to remarry. If she comes to court and says, “My husband died; pay me the value of my kesubah and give me permission to remarry,” she is allowed to remarry but not paid the kesubah. However, if she seizes the money of her kesubah, it is not taken away from her.