If they owned the property as joint tenants with right of survivorship (JTROS), which is the most common way for spouses to own property, then as to the house/real estate, there'd be no need for two probates: when he died, his interest in the home automatically and without probate went to her, the surviving joint "tenant." Therefore, you'd only need to probate her estate for the real estate.If the were substantial other assets not owned jointly (like non-joint bank accounts) and which were also not held transfer on death (TOD; this would, like joint ownership, bypass probate), then you would need two probates for those other assets: first, his estate, to get them to her ownership; then probate for her estate.