Also known as: tenancy by curtesy · curtesy · estate by the curtesy · curtesy estate
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A common-law life estate that a husband acquires in his deceased wife's inheritable real property upon the birth of issue capable of inheriting from her.
Thomas Thompson held land under a conveyance creating a fee simple conditional. After his death his wife Tabitha Taylor petitioned for a life estate measured as if he had held fee simple absolute. The court awarded the interest but made it subordinate to an undestroyed executory limitation that had restricted Thomas's original estate.
Tori Taylor died holding an estate in fee tail. Her surviving husband Tonya Takahashi sought a life interest calculated as though she had owned fee simple absolute. The court granted the interest yet subordinated it to the remainder limited on the fee tail and to the grantor's reversion.
Tiffany Torres held land under a fee tail preserved for a single lifetime only. Upon her death her spouse Timothy Tang claimed a curtesy life estate. The court recognized the interest measured by fee simple standards but held it subordinate to remainders and executory interests that had limited her estate.
A husband acquired territorial land under a statutory grant before his marriage ended. After his death his widow asserted a surviving-spouse life interest in the property. The court examined whether the interest had vested during the marriage and determined the extent of any curtesy claim.
David S. Maynard and Lydia A. Maynard were husband and wife when David left their home in Ohio to seek opportunities in the western territories. Upon his arrival in the Territory of Oregon, David settled upon public land under the donation act of Congress of September 27, 1850, claiming 640 acres as a married settler to obtain the grant for himself and his wife. Subsequently, on December 22, 1852, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Oregon passed a special act declaring the bonds of matrimony between David S. Maynard and his wife dissolved. David subsequently remarried another woman after the divorce took effect. Lydia received no notice of the legislative proceeding and received no support from David after his departure from Ohio, leaving her without resources during this period. Lydia A. Maynard filed a bill of complaint in the courts of the Territory asserting rights to the east half of the donation claim and alleging that no cause existed for the divorce.
View caseYes. The surviving spouse receives the same life interest that would arise if the deceased spouse had held fee simple absolute, though the interest remains subordinate to remainders, executory interests, possibilities of reverter, powers of termination, and the reversion of the grantor.
Yes. The spouse's life estate is expressly made subject to any remainder limited on the fee tail and to executory interests or reversions that restricted the deceased spouse's estate from the time of its creation.
No. The rule measures the spouse's interest by reference to fee simple absolute without requiring the continued existence of issue, although the interest remains subordinate to any reversion that becomes possessory when the fee tail ends.
…the marriage relation, were gone. A wife divorced has no right of dower in his property; a husband divorced has no right by the curtesy in her lands, unless the statute authorizing the divorce specially confers such right. It follows that the wife was not entitled to the east half of the donation claim. To entitle her to…