Carr v. Carr

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

HANDLER, J.

In this case, a wife brought an action for divorce against her husband. Her husband’s death before trial effectively termi nated the divorce action. The issue arising from the death of the husband during the pendency of the divorce action is whether the wife is entitled either to statutory equitable distribution of the marital assets under the divorce laws or to a statutory elective share of her deceased husband’s estate under the probate code. The courts below concluded that neither statutory scheme provided the surviving wife with an…