11)14. 
THE R .xj RA L, NEW-YOHKb-H 
! The Woman. At Law ! 
a i 
i [Under tills heading ire shall discuss the legal J 
* rights of women, particularly as regards their " 
B property and their children. There will he direct I 
S answers to actual questions and genoral state- | 
g mems of 1 tiff.] I 
MARRIED WOMEN’S PROPERTY 
RIGHTS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
We are much interested in your article 
on married women’s property rights in 
the State of New York, but tvhat we want 
here is married women’s property rights 
in the State of Pennsylvania, and would 
be glad to have you give them fully, as 
we are led to believe they are quite 
different. m. b. a. 
Pennsylvania. 
The laws of the State of Pennsylvania 
in regard to the rights of married women 
are somewhat behind those of New York, 
but changes are being made each year, 
so that in the near future it is hoped that 
married women in that State will have 
the same rights as are generally given to 
them in the other States. In brief, they 
are as follows: 
In 1893 a law was passed giving mar¬ 
ried women the same rights and powers 
over all property, real, personal, and 
mixed, as has an unmarried person, with 
the exception, first, that she cannot com 
vey or mortgage her separate real prop¬ 
erty unless her husband joins in the con¬ 
veyance or mortgage, and any separate 
deed, lease, or mortgage in which her 
husband docs not join is absolutely void 
except where her husband has been de¬ 
clared a lunatic, when she may dispose 
of her separate estate by deed or other¬ 
wise, or bind the same by mortgage as 
fully and completely as if unmarried, 
without it being necessary for her hus¬ 
band to join in or consent to the deed 
or mortgage; but she may mortgage her 
separate estate to secure her husband’s 
debts and, although she may not mortgage 
her property, she may sell, assign, trans¬ 
fer, or satisfy a mortgage or judgment as 
if unmarried. Second, she cannot be¬ 
come an accommodation endorser, maker, 
guarantor, or surety on the note or obli¬ 
gation of another. If she is of full age, 
she may transfer railroad stock and 
bonds or stock of any corporation cre¬ 
ated under the laws of Pennsylvania, 
as if she were unmarried. She may 
keep a bank account in her own name 
and draw money on her own check, or 
receipt, without the consent of her hus¬ 
band. 
Any married woman of full age may 
hold stock in any savings fund, building 
or loan association, and have all the 
rights and privileges of other members, 
including the right to borrow money from 
them and bid premiums therefor and to 
secure the loan by assigning her stock 
or other securities or by executing bond 
and mortgage upon her separate estate, 
provided her husband join in the bond 
and mortgage. When living apart from 
her husband under articles of separation, 
she may convey or mortgage her real es¬ 
tate without joining her husband and 
she may sue in divorce without a next 
friend, that is, may bring an action of 
divorce in her own name. Where prop¬ 
erty is claimed by a married woman as 
against the creditors of her husband she 
must show very clearly either that she 
owned it at the time of her marriage, or 
else acquired it afterwards by gift, be¬ 
quest or purchase, and it is upon her to 
prove conclusively that she paid for it 
with her own funds or which were fur¬ 
nished by her husband during his solvency 
without fraudulent intent, and unless sru- 
does so prove and does make such claim, 
it is presumed that her husband 
furnished the means of payment. 
A number of rights have been given to 
married women of late years, such as that 
of 1011, in which she was given authority 
to make conveyances of real estate 
directly to her husband as if she were 
unmarried, and by the same law all con¬ 
veyances of real estate which had pre¬ 
viously been made by any married woman 
to her husband, which had been duly exe¬ 
cuted and delivered, were made good in 
law. A married woman may sue and 
be sued civilly and in all respects and in 
any form of action as an unmarried wom¬ 
an, but she may not sue her husband ex¬ 
cept in her proceeding for divorce or in 
a proceeding to protect or recover her 
separate property; nor may lie sue her 
except in a proceeding for divorce or in 
a proceeding to protect or recover his 
separate property. And iu 1913 a law 
was passed by which a married woman 
who has been deserted, abandoned, or 
driven from her home by her husband 
may sue him upon any cause or action 
whatsoever and she is a competent wit¬ 
ness against him iu any such case. She 
may dispose of her property, real or per¬ 
sonal, by will, but she cannot affect her 
husband’s right to his tenancy by cour¬ 
tesy in her estate (which means that lie 
has an estate for his life in her lands at 
her death), nor his right to take against 
the will as provided by existing laws. 
A widow is entitled to $300 out of the 
husband’s estate, payable in preference 
to debts and legacies. She may take the 
$300 and also what the will gives her, 
although the gift be expx-essly in place 
of this sum, unless the gift by will be in 
the alternative. Her dower right at his 
death, which is a one-third interest in 
his property for her life, attached upon 
all the land owned by her husband at 
the time of marriage or acquired by him 
during the marriage, and to bar this 
right the wife must join in the deed to 
any property, and ’if her husband con¬ 
veys land during the marriage without 
his wife joining in the deed, her dower 
therein is not barred, and if she sur¬ 
vives him she may recover one-third of 
such land from the buyer. 
Wife’s Right to Husband’s Personal 
Property. 
Can you tell me what a wife can hold 
out of her husband’s property if he dies 
without a will, and the property is less 
than $2,000 and is with the exception of 
two or three hundred, all mortgages and 
accounts? a. r. s. 
New York. 
It is hard to tell what proportion would 
go to the wife, unless we know how 
many other relatives and what relation 
they held to the husband. As this is 
personal property, if there was left a 
wife and children, there would be no in¬ 
heritance tax to pay on the estate but 
all of it would go to the wife and chil¬ 
dren in the proportion of one-third to 
the widow and the rest in equal portions 
to the children or their representatives. 
Property of Incompetent Wife. 
My wife is evidently losing her mind, 
and I feel that she is incapable of doing 
business. She has some property in her 
own name, which I could use to advan¬ 
tage. Under the circumstances, believing 
that her mind is unsound, would I be 
justified in handling and using this money 
without consulting her? l. m. 
You would not be justified in using 
your wife’s money at the present time, 
any more than you would if she was in 
her right mind. The proper procedure 
for you is to petition the court and have | 
her adjudged an incompetent person, and I 
have a committee of her person and prop¬ 
erty appointed, and this committee, with 
the leave of the court, may use her prop¬ 
erty for her support. But until this 
is done you should not use her money in 
any way, as you have no more right to 
it than you have to the property of a 
stranger. 
Wife’s Claim Against Husband. 
A woman has property in her own 
right, and lends all her part of it to her 
husband for his personal business. She 
takes no note, or other acknowledgment 
from him. but he handles the money. In 
case of his death how could this woman 
proceed to obtain her money back, or how 
could she obtain it now in case of her 
need, or of any trouble with her hus¬ 
band? j. b. 
A married woman may deal in prop¬ 
erty with her husband the same as with 
a stranger. There is a slight presump¬ 
tion, where no evidence of the loan is 
made, that the property was given to the 
husband as a gift which would have to 
be overcome by some evidence. In case 
of the husband’s death the wife would 
proceed to prove her claim against his 
estate the same as any other creditor. 
The only trouble in this case is that she 
has no evidence of her claim other than 
her own word, and this would make it 
harder for her to prove her claim now 
or after her husband’s death, and it is 
always wise, even in family matters, to 
take the same precautions in regard to 
loaning money as it is when dealing with 
strangers. It saves a great deal of un¬ 
necessary trouble later. $lie should first 
get from her husband some acknowl¬ 
edgement in writing of tin' indebtedness. 
If he will not give this, nor pay her, the 
only alternative is to bring an action 
against him. 
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