Dower

Dower is a legal concept governing a widow’s rights to her deceased husband’s estate. Traditionally, under English common law, a widow was entitled to a life estate in a portion of her husband’s real property, commonly one-third, known as the dower, for her support during her lifetime. This right was separate from the husband’s debts and from the heirs who would inherit the property after the wife’s death. The opposite concept in the same system was courtesy, where a husband could claim a life estate in his wife’s lands if certain conditions were met.

The dower right applies primarily to real property and is distinct from dowry, which is property or money a wife brings to the marriage. Dower rights could affect how the husband’s lands were transmitted at death, influencing the distribution among heirs. Over time, many jurisdictions reformed or abolished traditional dower, replacing it with statutory provisions or elective options that determine a surviving spouse’s share.

In modern practice, dower may still exist in some places as statutory dower, a defined life estate or monetary share allotted to the widow, or it may be replaced entirely by an elective share or other surviving-spouse rights. Elective-share regimes allow a surviving spouse to elect a specified portion of the estate, regardless of the will, to secure financial protection after the husband’s death. The precise rules, fractions, and duration of dower or its modern equivalents vary by jurisdiction.

Notes on applicability and details should be checked against local law, as reforms and terminology differ widely.