perty to
which he naturally and as a matter of course takes the title. During his
life he controls it. After his death one-third will belong to the wife,
if there are children. If there are no children one-half will go to his
heirs no matter how distant the relationship may be.

[Sidenote: Law may result in hardship and suffering.]

In cases where the joint accumulations of husband and wife are only
sufficient to support the wife in comfort after the death of her
husband, the law of descent as it now stands, may result in positive
hardship and suffering. No matter how small the amount of property
belonging to a deceased husband may be, one-half of it will descend to
his heirs, if he has no children, and the wife be left with no means of
support. Of course the result would be the same in the case of the
husband upon the death of the wife, if she held the title to all of the
common property. That this law of descent has not operated to the
disadvantage of the husband, but invariably to the disadvantage of the
wife, is not due to any defect in either the letter or spirit of the
existing law, but is the natural and inevitable result of the custom
which gives the husband the title to and the control of the joint
earnings of himself and wife.

[Sidenote: Change or modification needed.]

It is difficult to suggest a remedy or to conceive of any law which
would adjust and equalize the relations of husband and wife in the
ownership and control of common property during the lifetime of both,
but if some just and wise legislator can devise some change or
modification of the present law, which will not interfere with the
husband's proper and necessary position as breadwinner and manager of
the business of the family partnership, and which will give to the wife
control of a portion of the family income while the husband lives, and
when the total amount of property held by either, is only sufficient to
afford a comfortable support to the other, will after the death of the
owner of the property, secure it all to husband or wife, as the case may
be, he will add to the laws of the state the one requisite necessary to
secure to women equal property rights with men, and a more just
distribution of intestate property.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Legal Status Of Women In Iowa
by Jennie Lansley Wilson

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGAL STATUS OF WOMEN IN IOWA ***

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