3A:37-1 - Bar by devise; election of widow or widower - New Jersey Statutes

3A:37-1.  Bar by devise;  election of widow or widower    If a husband or wife makes a valid devise of real estate to his or her spouse, for life or otherwise, without expressing whether or not it is intended  to be in lieu or bar of dower or curtesy, the surviving spouse shall not be  entitled to dower or curtesy in any real estate devised by the will, unless,  within 6 months after probate of the will, he or she files with the surrogate  of the county wherein he or she resides or wherein the real estate so devised  to him or her is situate, a written refusal to receive the same in satisfaction  and bar of dower or curtesy in other real estate.  By such refusal he or she  shall be deemed to have renounced the said devise.