In your online quest to find the perfect mate, a widow or widower may be the perfect candidate assuming that they didn’t murder their previous spouse, or drive them to a slow death by sublte means like nagging, or other stresses related to money or sex.
        Then there is the possibility that they just lost their spouse through natural circumstances, like lightning strikes, heart attack or other assorted things that make life so unpredictable.

Widows and widowers may come with some money if they planned their lives with insurance or if they accumulated a good size estate. Of course they may have had no insurance and lived from pay check to paycheck when the breadwinner (the one who brought home that paycheck) died. In that case, this person may be in dire straights and looking to find a new breadwinner. This could make for an unstable relationship if it is soley grounded in bread winning. You have to do your homework to figure out the situation.
        Little hints may guide you, like when on the first date, the guy tells you he's taking you for Dunkin' Doughnuts coffee, because he can't afford Starbucks. It's things like that you have to be aware of. 
        Since the widow/widower may have still been in love before the death of their partner, unlike the separated and divorced group, this person may have other issues that make dating difficult. There are those who were so in love that they may never get over their grief. That type of person is usually not on a dating site, but if they got there by the coercion of a friend or loved one, they could forever compare you to their lost love.

Just because someone lost a spouse doesn’t mean they had a good relationship prior to the death. You still have to do your due diligence to see what type of person this potential mate will be.
        The widow/widower does have the potential for being a great catch. They are neither discarded nor obvioulsy tainted. If they had a good marriage, they will want to repeat the experience. Just make sure they don't keep you hanging on telling you they havn't gotten over their greif. While greif is personal, waiting too long to be able to enter into a relationship may idnicate deeper problems.