He Died Before The Divorce Was Final… Who Gets The House?

posting to help a friend

This is in MS. They were legally separated and the divorce had been filed (2 years prior) but was never finalized. When he bought the house he did so independently. I had helped him with the paperwork and I’m 99% sure he had signed paperwork for his mortgage application stating they were legally separated with no plans to reconcile. He had asked her to sign something similar, but the divorce was not amicable (hence never finalized) and she tried to extort him for $ in order to sign, I’m unsure if she did or didn’t.

To make things more difficult for him, she refused to co-parent civilly (they never had a legal custody agreement but he had the kids 95% of the time as she worked night shifts and he worked day shifts). When she started refusing to do custody swaps amicably his mother moved into town without her husband to help facilitate and to provide free child care. Not long after, his parents sold their house and his father relocated to the area and moved in with him as well so both his parents were living in the house with him, providing financial and physical support with the kids while his (ex)wife was largely an absentee parent.

His death was unexpected and, as such, there was no will or other documentation in place. His (ex) wife showed up within days with the police to remove the children from the residence (and from their grandparents). Quite some time has passed since his death and I just found out his parents have made little to now effort to settle his estate as they are terrified his (ex)wife is going to try to take the house from them. As I said, she was not on the mortgage and they were legally separated. It is his parents’ legal address and they have been paying all of the bills themselves since his death. To make matters worse, while (ex)wife moved the kids out of state and won’t let the grandparents see them, she has been seen in town doing creepy drive by’s past their house. They fear that she is going to try to put it on the market (I advised them that that wasn’t possible since the estate hasn’t been settled).

So here are the questions:

(And yes I know they need to retain a lawyer, but I don’t think they can afford one)

1) does the (ex)wife have legal recourse to claim the estate and the house in the process?

2) His parents haven’t filed anything to settle the estate, but is it possible the (ex)wife has without their knowledge or consent? Is there a way to check and see if anything has been filed so it can be contested before the necessary date?

3) I’m assuming his kids should likely be the beneficiaries, however they are too young (12, 7, and 4) to claim the house. Does everything go in trust for them by default? If so, how do the grandparents block the (ex) wife from taking it before the kids are of-age

Thanks in advance.