Property rights of widows are known as?

• A. Dower
• B. Remainder and Reversion
• C. Usufruct
• D. Right of Habitation

Answer: (A)

Dower is the widow’s right to a portion of her deceased husband’s real property, typically a life estate in one-third of what he owned at marriage. This provision exists to provide financial support for the widow after the husband’s death. It is an automatic, survivorship-based interest that ends with the widow’s death (or, in some places, remarriage, depending on local law).

Other concepts mentioned are different kinds of interests: remainder and reversion are future interests that survive a transfer of property; usufruct is a right to use and enjoy another’s property and derive income from it; and the right of habitation is a specific right to live in the home, not a broad life estate in the husband’s property. Modern laws may replace dower with elective shares or community property rules, but the traditional term for the widow’s interest is dower.