Mr. and Mrs. Jones, a nice married couple with children have found their dream home to purchase. Through the real estate agent they negotiate a fair purchase price from the seller. They have arranged for a good mortgage with a highly rated bank. Along with the seller they meet at the title company to sign the papers for the closing. Mr. and Mrs. Jones and seller are getting ready to sign the papers when the title agent tells Mr. and Mrs. Jones that there is a problem which may result in canceling the sale. What's wrong Mr. and Mrs. Jones exclaim? Everything's perfect, everything has been agreed upon, what could possibly be wrong? It turns out that the seller's name is Mrs. Smith and her husband, Dr. Smith refuses to sign the papers to allow the sale to go through because he likes where the Smith's now live. Why can't Mrs. Smith simply sell the house without her husband, Dr. Smith's permission?

When Dr. Smith went into medical practice he transferred his one-half interest in the family home to his wife in case he was sued to try to protect the home from any lawsuits. This year Mrs. Smith decided that the couple should downsize their home because all of their children have grown up and moved out. She put the house on the market and Mr. and Mrs. Jones are ready to sign the papers to close on the sale. Mrs. Smith as the sole owner could attempt the sale without her husband's permission but the mortgage company for the loan for Mr. and Mrs. Jones will not lend the money unless Dr. Smith also signs the transfer documents. You see Dr. Smith must first release his dower rights so that Mr. and Mrs. Jones will take the full interest in the house. So what exactly are dower rights?

Dower rights are the rights that a non owner spouse has in the real property of his or her spouse. It was originally set up when the husband was the only real property owner. It was designed to allow the non-owner wife to make sure that if her husband sold their home without her permission she would still have some protection in the value of the real property, so that if the husband later died, she could claim the one third of the value of her right to live in the home or the value of income produced by any farm, rental or other real property that he owned for the rest of her life. Now dower rights apply to both husband and wife and act more as veto power on the sale of any real property owned by the other spouse. There is no lending institution that will give a loan on any property that they cannot easily foreclose and sell to make up for any losses due to default by the borrower.

With the ability of a spouse to exercise veto power and the unwillingness of a lending institution to give a loan on real property where the spouse's permission is not given, dower rights have served their original intended effect of protecting a spouse from their husband or wife from selling or borrowing against real property without the non-owner spouses' permission. Giving permission for such a sale is called release of dower rights. This rule applies even if the real property was solely owned by the other spouse before the marriage took place. Some people will insist on an agreement before the marriage that requires that the spouse-to-be give up his or her future dower rights. So when you think of dower rights think of veto power over transactions involving real property.