Posted by Prue Eckett on November 25, 2002 at 20:27:57 from 210.86.115.193 user Prue_Eckett.
In Reply to: Re: Beckfoot - heir apparent posted by Peter H on November 25, 2002 at 14:58:07:
From what I've read of British law - wives often had no rights beyond use of a property until they died. Archaic I know, but law still is and certainly was in the twenties and thirties.
Even now legal wills add a male's career to his name while a female has only her marital status added.
On marriage, unless he made a specific legally binding choice, Bob would have taken over Molly's property rights. Once he died, unless the aforementioned legal document was signed, Molly would not resume control of her property. Bob's lawyer and whoever he'd sanctioned as trustee would take care of it until his legal heir(in this case Nancy) reached legal age or the age he had specified as appropriate.
For a better explanation, Neville Shute's 'A Town Like Alice' has a fairly good example.