{"id":749,"date":"2017-01-17T20:24:40","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T20:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shinnerscook.com\/?p=749"},"modified":"2022-08-25T11:31:47","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T11:31:47","slug":"goodbye-dower-hello-equality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shinnerscook.com\/goodbye-dower-hello-equality\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye, Dower! Hello, Equality!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently the Michigan Legislature took a huge step towards furthering the equal treatment of its residents and their real property interests by eliminating an archaic and unnecessary law treating men and women unequally.\u00a0 On January 5, 2016, Governor Snyder signed a series of bills that eliminated dower rights in Michigan.\u00a0 Now, I\u2019m sure most of you reading this have two questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What is Dower?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. How does this affect Michigan residents, including those in the Saginaw, Midland, and Bay county areas, like me?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Fear not readers and allow me to explain why this new law is a win for equal treatment and a step in the right direction for Michigan residents like you.<\/p>\n

      What is Dower?<\/u>
      \nDower is a married woman\u2019s right to a one-third life estate in all of her deceased husband\u2019s real estate. \u00a0Under dower, a married man would have to get his wife\u2019s signature in order to transfer property he held solely in his name.\u00a0 Married men have no similar right to their wives\u2019 real property and a wife can freely transfer real property solely in her name without his consent.<\/p>\n

      Dower dates to Medieval times where real property, the dominant source of wealth, was passed down to the eldest son or first born child and not the spouse.\u00a0 Dower provided support for a widow after the husband\u2019s death.\u00a0 However, today most wealth is not real property assets but personal property, insurance policies and retirement accounts, to which dower does not apply.<\/p>\n

      How does Dower\u2019s elimination affect Michigan residents?<\/u>
      \nThe new law is scheduled to take effect on April 5, 2017. \u00a0As dower rights only applied to real property interests, which today are not the dominant source of wealth, dower provided little protection for a widow.\u00a0 The only real impact of this law is now neither a married man or married women needs their spouse\u2019s signature to transfer property solely in the man or woman\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

      Kelli M. King-Penner is an estate planning, real estate, and business attorney in Saginaw, Michigan and a member of the Northeastern Michigan Estate Planning Council.\u00a0 As always, you can contact Shinners & Cook at 989.799.5000 with any questions regarding your real property or any other legal questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Recently the Michigan Legislature took a huge step towards furthering the equal treatment of its residents and their real property interests by eliminating an archaic and unnecessary law treating men and women unequally.\u00a0 On January 5, 2016, Governor Snyder signed a series of bills that eliminated dower rights in Michigan.\u00a0 Now, I\u2019m sure most of<\/p>\n

      Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[10],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoodbye, Dower! Hello, Equality! - Shinner & Cook<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/shinnerscook.com\/goodbye-dower-hello-equality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Goodbye, Dower! 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