Article on Dower & Curtesy Law in Arkansas

J. Cliff McKinney recently published an Article entitled, With All My Worldly Goods I Thee Endow: The Law and Statistics of Dower and Curtesy in Arkansas, 38 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 353 (2016). Provided below is an abstract of the Article:

Dower and curtesy are ancient doctrines that have been a part of Arkansas law since the dawn of statehood. Though many states have abandoned dower and curtesy, the concepts remain a basic provision of Arkansas law. This article explores the current status of the law in Arkansas including a detailed analysis of the current statutory system along with a sampling of some of the myriad associated common law concepts and interpretative features.

Most importantly, though, this article examines the real life application of dower and curtesy in Arkansas through an empirical study examining more than a decade of deeds filed in fifteen Pulaski County neighborhoods representing a cross-section of socio-economic backgrounds. The study provides statistics that might help policymakers decide the fate of dower and curtesy in Arkansas. For instance, the study discusses potentially significant findings such as:

(i) A non-titled spouse joined a deed to release his or her dower or curtesy in 18.6% of conveyances;

(ii) A woman is two and a half times (2.5x) more likely to not have legal title to her husband’s property than a man is to not have legal title to his wife’s property; and

(iii) Women are more likely to use a risky method of releasing dower rather than a legally safer method used more frequently by men to release curtesy.

Statistics like these might help the Arkansas General Assembly decide the fate of dower and curtesy in Arkansas. The Arkansas General Assembly, hopefully with the aid of these statistics, must decide whether the thousand-year-old concepts of dower and curtesy still have a legitimate role to play in Arkansas’s legal system or whether they are concepts that need to be consigned to history.