Should she wait out her ‘iddah in the place where her
    husband died, or go back to her homeland?
Question

                My question is regarding my mother's
      Iddah. My parents were visiting the United States, my father got very sick and died there.
      My mother is still in the US staying at one of my cousin's home , my question is that, do
      my mother has to spent the Iddah period in US at my cousin's home where my parents were
      staying or she can return back to her own home in Pakistan. Returning home for my mother
      is also very important because of many issues in Pakistan like property etc in which her
      presence for various factors is very important. I would be very grateful if you would
      answer this question in the light of Islamic Laws. Thank you.
Praise be to Allah.The scholars differed as to whether the woman in
      iddah following her husbands death has to stay in her house. There are two
      views, the more famous and stronger of which is that she has to stay in the marital home.
      This is the view of the majority of scholars, including the four imaams.
They used as their evidence for this ruling the Sunnah as
      narrated in the Hadeeth of Fareeah bint Maalik (may Allaah be pleased with her) who
      said that she came to the Prophet 
 (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and
      asked him whether she could go back to her family of Banu Khudrah. Her husband had set out
      in pursuit of some slaves of his who had run away, and when he caught up with them at the
      edge of al-Qadoom they had killed him. She asked the Messenger of Allaah 
 (peace and
      blessings of Allaah be upon him) to let her go back to her family because her husband had
      not left her in a house that he owned. She narrated: The Messenger of Allaah 
      (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said Yes, so I walked away until I
      was by the apartment, or in the mosque, then he called me  or commanded me 
      and I came back. I told him the story again about what had happened to my husband, and he
      said, Stay in your house until the appointed time [i.e., until your iddah is
      over]. She said: So I spent my iddah there, four months and ten
      days. When Uthmaan was the khaleefah, he sent word to me and asked me about that, so
      I told him and he followed it and ruled in accordance with it.
It was narrated by Abu Dawood, al-Nisaai, al-Tirmidhi and Ibn
      Maajah, and classed as saheeh by al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibbaan, al-Haakim, al-Dhahabi, Ibn
      al-Qayyim and others.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
There is no reason to reject this clear saheeh Sunnah which
      Uthmaan ibn Affaan and other great Sahaabah accepted. (Zaad
      al-Zaaad, 5/691)
Note:
A woman who is in iddah could be faced with an emergency such as the
      fear of the house collapsing, a flood or an enemy, or she could feel lonely, or she may be
      living among immoral people, or the heirs may want to make her leave the house, or by
      staying she may lose her children or wealth etc. In such cases it is permissible for
      her to move wherever she wishes, and she does not have to move to the nearest place. This
      is the view of the majority of scholars among the Hanafis, Hanbalis and Maalikis.
This is on the condition that she can still adhere to the rulings of
      iddah in the new home as she did in the previous home.
If a woman is able to manage her affairs from the marital home, she has no
      reason to move. For example, she can delegate a trustworthy person to follow up the
      inheritance or property. If your mother is able to do her iddah in the house in
      which she was living with her husband when he died, then she should stay there. And Allaah
      knows best.