Laws Concerning a Widow
Her property.
A widow recovers her real property, but if there be a settlement she is restricted by its provisions. She recovers her chattels real if her husband has not disposed of them by will or otherwise.
A wife’s paraphernalia.
A wife’s paraphernalia (i.e., her clothes and ornaments) which her husband owns during his lifetime, and which his creditors can seize for his debts, becomes her property on his death.
Her liabilities.
A widow is liable for any debts which she contracted before marriage, and which have been left unpaid during her marriage.
A widow is not bound to bury her dead husband, it being the duty of his legal representative.
A widow’s one-third.
If a man die intestate, the widow, if there are children, is entitled to one third of the personalty; if there are no children, to one half: the other is distributed among the next of kin, among whom the widow is not counted. If there is no next of kin, the moiety goes to the crown.
A husband can, of course, by will deprive a wife of all right in the personalty.
Quarantine.
A right is granted in Magna Charta to a widow to remain forty days in her husband’s house after his death, provided she do not marry during that time.
Dower.
A widow has by law a right of dower of her husband’s freehold lands, which is a right to the possession of a third of them during her life, and a right called freebench to a portion of his copyholds, but these rights are generally taken away by settlements or conveyances, giving the wife a jointure. If she accept a jointure she has no claim to dower.