Shupe v. Rainey

Citations

• 255 Pa. 432
• 100 A. 138
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 471

Syllabus

<p>Dower — Mineral lands — Separation of coal from surface — Widow’s dower in coal — Partnership—Assignment for creditors — Assigning dower — Date of assignment.</p> <p>1. Where the owner of coal lands separates the coal from the surface by a conveyance of the coal in which his wife has not joined, the wife’s dower rights therein are not affected by a subsequent assignment for the benefit of creditors in which the wife joins.</p> <p>2. A conveyance of land to a partnership of which the grantor is a member does not affect the dower rights of the grantor’s wife therein unless she joins in the conveyance. The firm tabes the land subject to the dower-of the wife, which cannot be impaired by any subsequent conversion thereof for partnership purposes.</p> <p>3. A widow is entitled to dower in such mines and quarries as were actually opened and used during the lifetime of her husband.</p> <p>■4. .When a widow is entitled to dowerj particular lands should,' if possible, be designated, by metes and bounds as the Sower lands of the widow, but if this is not practicable the dower may be assigned to her in money or by giving to her the right to receive one-third of the rents and profits for life.</p> <p>5. In a suit in equity brought by a widow for partition of land in which she claimed a dower interest and for an accounting it appeared that a part of the property consisted of a vein of coal which might not be of uniform thickness and which might be interrupted by faults, and be less valuable in some parts than others; the lower court found that the vein was of such a character that the dower interests of the wife could not be set apart by metes and bounds and decreed that plaintiff was entitled to one-third of the rents, issues and profits of such vein and awarded -her dower interest from the date when the bill was filed. Held, that the method of assigning the widow’s dower was correct, but that she was only entitled to it from the date of the decree, and the decree so modifie