Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 18.djvu/668

650 that State would give him if she died intestate; and in one State she can make a will only by her husband's written consent.

In nine States special enactments qualify a married woman to be executrix or administratrix; in others the right is secured under other forms of law.

In twenty-four States a married woman may sue and be sued separately from her husband; in other States provision is made for their union in various specified suits.

In fourteen States married women can cause their husbands' lives to be insured for their benefit, and retain the policy against all outside claims, within certain limits of amount. In twenty-two States there are homestead acts which secure a certain amount of property, the home and its belongings, to the widow or wife, against all creditors of the husband. In fifteen States a married woman may carry on and control a separate business without limitations; in ten States she can do so with some restrictions, which vary from a simple requirement that she shall file her intention to do so in court to the necessity of proving that her husband does not support her properly.

In three States special enactments provide for trusteeships to guard the wife's interests against the husband's claims; in other States similar results may be attained by marriage contracts, and special provisions of various sorts. In seven States a woman is solely responsible for her personal debts. In three States a married woman is responsible for her husband's debts, and in two others is so responsible unless taking certain legal precautions at marriage. In six States her separate property is liable for family debts, although in most instances she is so liable only in the second degree, all the husband's property being jeopardized first.

In seven States the division of property on the death of either husband or wife, whether there be any issue or not, is very nearly or quite equal; in most of the other States the widower has nearly all the rights in the wife's estate he had under the common law, and she has a life interest in his real, and absolutely only a fraction of his personal, property.

In ten States, husbands and wives can make contracts with each other.

In regard to the rights of guardianship, the father is generally held first natural guardian of the children, and the mother second.

In Iowa, which, on the whole, seems to lead all the other States in giving equal marital and parental rights to husband and wife, the two parents are equal guardians of the children, neither having the power to remove them from the home without the consent of the other, and on the death of either parent the other is sole guardian. Moreover, in this State the wife can not be compelled by the husband to leave the home, against her wishes, to follow him in any wanderings. In Iowa, also, the family expenses are chargeable equally to both parents, and