Steve: > Also, some families have the idea that all assets of the couple belong to > the husband. I don't think this has any legal substance in recent times and > it shouldn't have any place in the settlements of estates as recent as 1900. > But I could be wrong on this. Before the passing of the Married Women's Property Act of 1882, "some families" would have been entirely right. Married women could not own property (and property didn't just mean "real estate" it meant possessions). Anything they might have been thought to own was actually owned by their husbands. This changed from 1882, and the process was completed by another Act of 1893 giving married women the same property rights as men. Best wishes Paul Prescott --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.760 / Virus Database: 509 - Release Date: 10-09-2004