1,624. When One Wife Dies Before Her Husband and the Other Dies After

Hilchos Ishus 19:6

If the value of a man’s estate was a dinar or more than the total of his wives’ kesubahs, each of the sons inherits the value of his own mother’s kesubah. If there is a promissory note against the estate that exceeds the value of the kesubahs, it still doesn’t reduce the appraised worth of the estate.

Hilchos Ishus 19:7

Let’s say that a man had two wives, one of whom predeceased him and the other of whom died after him, and he had sons from each of them. Even if the value of his estate doesn’t exceed that of the two kesubahs, the sons of the wife who died after the husband have the right to inherit the value of their mother’s kesubah first, assuming that she took the oath required of widows before she died. The reason for this is that they are not inheriting their mother's kesubah based on the rabbinic condition but rather because of the Torah’s inheritance laws. After this is done, the sons of the wife who predeceased her husband inherit their mother’s kesubah by virtue of the rabbinic condition. Anything left in the estate is divided equally among them. If the widow died before taking the oath, then only the sons of the woman who predeceased her husband inherit their mother’s kesubah and the balance is divided equally among the sons.