Vt. — Patricia Hayes v. Allison Hayes, Brian Hayes and LPL Financial, LLC

the statute in accordance with its plain meaning.” Wright v. Bradley, 2006 VT 100, ¶ 6, 180 Vt.

383, 910 A.2d 893. As set forth below, we conclude that the term “share” in § 321 plainly refers

to a surviving spouse’s elective or intestate share. This is consistent with the history of the law in

this area, the statutory scheme, and the purpose of § 321.

¶ 10. We begin with a brief review of the law in this area prior to 2009, mindful that

much of this law “changed very little over time.” S. Willbanks & J. Secrest, Changes to Vermont’s

Probate Law: Increasing the Surviving Spouse’s Share and Other Measures, Vt. B.J., Summer

2009, at 26 (“More than two hundred years ago—in 1787 to be precise—Vermont enacted an

intestacy statute as well as dower and curtesy provisions that have changed very little over time.”).1

Under prior law, a widow had the statutory right to “(1) Homestead; (2) statutory dower; [and] (3)

one-third, at least, of [her husband’s] personal property.” O’Rourke’s Estate, 106 Vt. at 333, 175

A. at 26.

¶ 11. A widow’s right to dower, historically defined in Vermont statutory law as the right

to “one-third of the real estate of which her husband died seized,” was long recognized as “a

favorite of the law.” Thayer, 14 Vt. at 108, 118 (quotations omitted) (explaining that dower right