Assignment Of Dower

The act by which the share of a widow in her deceased husband's real estate is ascertained and set apart to her. The assignment may be made in pais by the heir or his guardian, or the devisee or other persons seised of the lands subject to dower (19 N. H. 240; 23 Pick. [Mass.] 80, 88; 4 Ala. [N. S.] 160; 4 Me. 67; 2 Ind. 388; White & T. Lead. Cas. 51), or it may be made after a course of judicial proceedings, where a voluntary assignment is refused. In this case, the assignment will be made by the sheriff, who will set off her share by metes and bounds. 2 Bl. Comm. 136; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 229. The assignment should be made within forty days after the death of the husband, during which time the widow shall remain in her husband's capital mansion house.

The act by which the share of a widow in her deceased husband's real estate is ascertained and set apart to her. The assignment may be made in pais by the heir or his guardian, or the devisee or other persons seized of the lands subject to dower; Pierce v. Williams, 3 N. J. Law, 709; Meserve v. Meserve, 19 N. H. 240; Blood v. Blood, 23 Pick. (Mass.) 80; Shattuck v. Gragg, id. S8; Mc Rae v. Pegues, 4 Ala. 160; Baker v. Baker, 4 Greenl. (Me.) 67; Boyers v. Newbanks, 2 Ind. 3SS; Tudor, Lead. Cas. signment is refused. In this case the assignment will be made by the sheriff, who will set off her share by metes and bounds; 2 Bla. Com. 136; 1 Washb. R. P. 229. The assignment should be made within forty days after the death of the husband, during which time the widow may remain in the mansion-house. See Pharis v. Leachman, 20 Ala. 662; Chaplin v. Simmons' Heirs, 7 T. B. Monr. (Ky.) 337; Stedman v. Fortune, 5 Conn. 462; 1 Washb. R. P. 222, n. 227; Quarantine. The share of the widow is usually one-third of all the real estate of which the husband has been seized during coverture; and no writing or livery is necessary in a valid assignment, the dowress being in, according to the view of the law, of the seisin of her husband. The assignment of dower in a house may be of so many rooms, instead of a third part of the house; Parrish v. Parrish, 88 Va. 529, 14 S. E. 325. The remedy of the widow, when the heir refuses to assign dower, is by a writ of dower unde nihil habet; 4 Kent 63. A conveyance by a widow of her right of dower before it has been allotted does not vest the legal title in the grantee, and she is a necessary party to enforce the allotment; Parton v. Allison, 111 N. C. 429, 16 S. E. 416; see id., 109 N. C. 674, 14 S. E. 107. If the guardian of a minor heir assign more than he ought, the heir on coming of age may have the writ of admeasurement of dower; Mc- Cormick v. Taylor, 2 Ind. 336; Jones v. Brewer, 1 Pick. (Mass.) 314; Co. Litt. 34, 35; Fitzh. Nat. Br. 148; Stat. Westm. 2 (13 Edw. I.) c. 7; 1 Washb. R. P. 222; 1 Kent 63, 69.

Ascertnining a widow's right of dower by laying out or marking off one-third of her deceased husband's lands, and setting off the same for her use during life. Bettis v. Mc-Nider, 137 Ala. 588, 34 South. 813, 97 Am. St Rep. 59.
—-Assignment of error. See Error.

Defined under Assignment in Black's Law Dictionary.

Ascertaining a widow’s right of dower by laying out or marking off one-third of her deceased husband’s lands, and setting off the sane for her use during life.

[L. Lat. assignatio dotis.] The marking out and laying off of one third part of a man's lands as the dower of his widow; designating it by metes and bounds, or other sufficient description, and allotting it to her as her portion. This assignment may be made in pais, by parol, by the heir or devisee, or other persons seised of the lands subject to dower; or it may be made by a course of judicial proceeding, where a voluntary assignment is refused. But the estate does not pass by the assignment, the dowress being in in intendment of law, of the seisin of her husband; and this is the reason that neither livery nor writing is essential to the validity of an assignment in pais. 4 Kent's Com. 63, 69.