You must have a person you claim on your tax return to qualify to file as a qualifying widower.

Qualifying Widow (or Qualifying Widower) is a filing status that allows you to retain the benefits of the Married Filing Jointly status for two years after the year of your spouse's death. You must have a dependent child in order to file as a Qualifying Widow or Widower.

No.  Qualifying Widow (or Qualifying Widower) is a filing status that allows you to retain the benefits of the Married Filing Jointly status for two years after the year of your spouse's death. You must have a dependent child in order to file as a Qualifying Widow or Widower

Turbo Tax wants to change my filing status to Qualifying widower but I do not have a dependent child.  How is it doing this?  From what I read it is necessary to have a dependent for this status.

Yes. The program starts and then should change the filing status by the time you are done with the review stage. If you are using the online version:

1. go to Tax Tools,
2. then select Tools,
3. select View Tax Summary,
4. on the left side, select Preview My 1040.
5. verify your filing status