I greatly appreciate the response. I left out a lot of history for brevity's sake - but I did initially begin from a place of filing joint as the surviving spouse, as I am the executor and the only person with claim as such.
However I ran into repeated rejections by the IRS due to a mismatched AGI from 2021, hence looking for a way around it, posting here.
I have filed by mail - so fingers crossed this is just a matter of waiting.
Thanks again to all who answered.
