THE EFFECT OF FOREIGN DIVORCE UPON DOWER AND CURTESY

Authors

Robert W. Wheeler, Of the Bar of Cleveland, Ohio

Abstract

Dower and curtesy are no longer viewed with the kindly eye with which the older law regarded these marital property rights. While inroads have been made by statute, which in many instances have abolished these estates, there are still a large number of states which retain dower and curtesy in their original or in a modified form. Coincident with the decline of these estates has come the great increase of divorces, so that the question of the effect of foreign divorce upon dower and curtesy is litigated with increasing frequency. The problem requires first a consideration of the relation of these marital rights to the existence of the marriage status at the time of the death of one spouse, and second, the application of this to the general principle that title or interest in immovables is determined by the law of the situs.

Recommended Citation

Robert W. Wheeler, THE EFFECT OF FOREIGN DIVORCE UPON DOWER AND CURTESY, 25 Mich. L. Rev. 487 (1927).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol25/iss5/3