In the year of death you can still file a joint return if the person in charge of filing the decedent's return agrees. Usually there will be less income to report however you need to pay attention to the withholdings ... if they were all being taken from the decedent's spouses income and that stream of income is lost then the withholdings may not happen. Sitting down with a local financial planner and/or elder attorney may be wise as there are a lot of moving parts to be decided.
