CHAPTER 211 - SETTLEMENT OF PERSONAL ESTATES RELATIVE TO WIDOW'S ALLOWANCE
AN ACT TO AMEND ARTICLE 9, 3876, SEC. 78, CHAPTER 99, OF THE REVISED CODE OF DELAWARE (1935) RELATING TO WIDOW'S ALLOWANCE IN THE SETTLEMENT OF PERSONAL ESTATES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That Article 9 of Chapter 99 of the revised code of Delaware (1935) be and the same is hereby amended by striking out and repealing all of 3876, Sec. 78, and inserting in lieu thereof a new Section to be known as 3876, Sec. 78, as follows:
3876. Sec. 78. Widows Allowance:—The widow of any decedent shall be entitled to receive and the executor or administrator shall pay to her as soon as conveniently may be, in the manner hereinafter provided, cash up to the amount of Five hundred Dollars out of the estate of the decedent, which payment shall take priority over all unsecured debts with the exception of taxes, costs of administration, reasonable funeral expenses and reasonable expenses of medicine and medical attendance and for nursing and necessaries during the last illness of the decedent. The foregoing provision shall not affect any other rights to which she may be entitled, either under the will of her husband or the provisions of the intestacy laws of this State.
The above allowance to the widow of a decedent shall be of no effect unless and until the said widow shall, within six months from the date of the death of the decedent, notify in writing over her signature the Register of Wills of the County wherein the letters were granted and the executor or administrator of her demand that the sum of Five hundred Dollars aforesaid be set aside for her benefit out of the proceeds of the estate of the decedent.
The above allowance shall be considered to be a debt of the estate, and the executor or administrator shall have full power to sell so much of the property of the decedent as will enable him to pay said allowance in the same manner as he may be enabled to do by law for the payment of other debts of the decedent or of the estate.
Unsecured debts, as mentioned in the first paragraph hereof, shall mean those debts which are not protected or secured by valid liens against the particular property out of which the said allowance is to be paid.
Approved April 16, 1941.