DOWER
The provision that the law makes for a widow out
of the lands or tenements of her husband, for her
support and the nurture of her children. A species
of life estate that a woman is, by law, entitled to
claim on the death of her husband, in the lands
and tenements of which he was seised in fee dur-
ing the marriage, and which her issue, if any,
might by possibility have inherited. The life estate
to which every married woman is entitled on the
death of her husband, intestate, or, in case she dis-
sents from his will, one-third in value of all lands
of which her husband was beneficially seized in
law or in fact, at any time during coverture.
The real property must be inheritable by the
wife’s offspring in order for her to claim dower.
Even if, however, their marriage produces no
offspring, the wife is entitled to dower as long as
any such progeny of her husband would qualify
as his heirs at the time of his death.
Prior to the death of the husband, the inter-
est of the wife is called an inchoate right of
dower, in the sense that it is a claim that is not a
present interest but one that might ripen into a
legally enforceable right if not prohibited or
divested. It is frequently stated that an inchoate
right of dower is a mere expectancy and not an
estate. The law governing dower rights is the law
in existence at the time of the husband’s death
and not the law existing at the time of the mar-
riage.
The courts, however, protect the inchoate
right of dower from a fraudulent conveyance—
a transfer of property made to defraud, delay, or
hinder a creditor, or in this case, the wife, or to
place such property beyond the creditor’s
reach—by the husband in contemplation of, or
subsequent to, the marriage. Protection is also
available against the claims of creditors if the
claims arose after the marriage. The posting of
