If you ever have the misfortune of losing a spouse, you will find comfort in the support of family and friends. You may find help in your grief through support groups or therapy.

You might also find a financial burden, having lost an income, while still having the same bills to pay. You may find yourself having to pay for things that your spouse used to do, but you are not able to. The Holm-Rahe scale of stress considers the loss of a spouse to be the single most stressful event in a person's life.

The federal government recognizes this stressful loss by having a qualifying widow status for tax purposes. It also considers all property left to a spouse to be tax-free. Thirty-eight compassionate states feel the same way. But not Connecticut.

The state of CT requires every new widow to fill out form CT-706 within six months of losing their loved one. This requires you to revisit the day your spouse died and to see the date of the most traumatic moment in your life on the bank statements, and investment statements from that day.

The state also needs you to figure out how much your home and car were worth on that day your loved one died. They need all this information to determine whether you owe them any taxes as a result of your spouse dying. There is a misconception that taxes are only owed on estates over $2 million. Wrong.

If your estate is less than that amount, you pay a "fee" based on the value of your estate on the most traumatic day of your life. This is not a nominal fee, with the highest charge being over $5000. Even a widow with an estate worth nothing will be charged a fee. Sign this petition if you think this is ridiculous and want the probate fee and estate taxes eliminated for widows.