Ownership and estates

Curtesy

A surviving husband’s common-law life interest in his deceased wife’s land

The common law gave a widower curtesy and a widow dower, each a life interest in land the other had owned during the marriage. Both are survivals: most jurisdictions replaced them with a statutory elective share that does not depend on which spouse survives.

Whether any form of dower or curtesy still exists, and what replaced it, is set state by state and varies widely. Read the statute where you are licensed rather than assuming the common-law rule survives.

How the exam asks about it

Tested as vocabulary rather than as live law, and always paired with dower. Curtesy is the husband’s interest, dower the wife’s, and the item usually asks nothing more than which is which.

Quick check: Curtesy

One question. Pick an answer to see the explanation.

Which term is being defined: “A surviving husband’s common-law life interest in his deceased wife’s land”?

Related terms

Life estateRemaindermanTenancy by the entiretyFee simple absolute

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