Thank you. This is helpful. My mom and stepfather filed separately because it was the second marriage for both, both had separate properties but lived together, and both had grown children. They wanted to keep their moneys separate. After his death, his children wanted to file his taxes, and my mom wanted to file hers. She knows it would have been a tax advantage to file as a qualified widow, but did not want to involve his family further. She is indicating on her taxes that he died during the tax year.
Given this, would she have to find out how his children filed (standard vs itemized) before she could file hers (standard vs itemized), or is it the first one to file sets the rule for the second?
