Hi, Loren.
I am not a lawyer, but have been an r.e. broker for many years, and as such am prohibited by law from providing clients with legal, tax or accounting advice. However, you are not my client, nor do I not stand to benefit in any way, so here is my general understanding of the situation with no guarantees as to accuracy.
If his wife died intestate (without a will), the property will pass by succession according to the laws of the State of California, which is a community property state.
The first question you need to know is if the property was acquired by the wife before marriage or after the marriage through inheritance or gift, in which case California considers the house as her separate property and if she died intestate, distribution of the property is as follows: since she had more than one child, one-third goes to her husband, two-thirds is to be divided equally among the children.
OTOH, if the property was acquired during the marriage out of community funds or earnings, California law considers it to be community property regardless of the fact that the title was solely in her name (BTW, why was it?), and 100% passes to the surviving spouse.
This is just my understand of what applies, and I am not a lawyer or expert on title. I would suggest you call a title company such as North American Title or Lawyers' Title, etc. and speak with a title officer -- tell him the owner wants to sell the property but doesn't understand how to get the title straightened out first. At a minimum, you will need a certified copy of the death certificate, and probably much more. It isn't that complicated if the property is considered to be community property, and probably the title could be corrected during the escrow. But things could be very complicated if it is considered to be separate property, in which case you might need to contact a real estate attorney.
As to the other problems he is having with his children, you might want to consider contacting an elder abuse agency on his behalf. I believe there is also cheap or free legal aid available to the elderly if they are poor.
Good luck. Hope this helps. Let me know how things work out. I do hope for his sake (and yours) that the house is community property, which would be fairly easy to deal with.
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