Allen v. . Saunders

119 S.E. 486, 186 N.C. 349, 1923 N.C. LEXIS 246

• Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
• Decided: October 31, 1923
• Status: Published

Opinion

Claee, C. J.

We think this case was settled by that of Pollard v. Slaughter, 92 N. C., 72, where the Court held, in a learned opinion by Ashe, J., upon a devise in the same terms, and upon the same facts as in the case at bar, that where there is a devise in fee simple, with an executory devise over, the wife’s right to dower attaches on the first estate and is not defeated by its determination on the death of the husband, for the widow is entitled to dower in all lands of which her husband was seized during coverture, arid which' any child she might bear him could by any possibility take by descent.

We could add nothing to the reasoning of the learned judge in that case. The husband (Sydney E. Allen) held a defeasible fee simple, Whitfield v. Garris, 131 N. C., 148; S. c., 134 N. C., 24, and cases cited thereto in Anno. Ed. The right of his wife to dower therein attached by marriage and was not defeated by his decease and determination of the estate. This case has been cited and approved in Midyette v. Grubbs, 145 N. C., 91, which states that “other courts of the highest authority have taken the same view,” citing Northcott v. Whipp, 51 Ky., 65-73.

Affirmed.