Jacobs v. Meade

The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the statutory law of Virginia enables a husband, as well as a wife, to acquire a sole and separate equitable estate in real property.

Code § 64.1-19 gives a husband a curtesy interest in fee simple in a deceased wife’s real estate. The statute provides, in part, that:

“A surviving spouse shall be entitled to a dower or curtesy interest in fee simple of one third of all the real estate whereof the deceased spouse or any other to his use was at any time seized during coverture of an estate of inheritance, unless such right shall have been lawfully…