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The Constitutionality Of The Feme Sole Estate And The Virginia Supreme Court's Creation Of An 'Homme Sole' Estate In Jacobs V. Meade, Maria Dill

University of Richmond Law Review

On April 27, 1984, the Virginia Supreme Court, in Jacobs v. Meade, was confronted with a constitutional challenge in the sensitive area of gender-based classifications. The object of the assault was the separate equitable estate, or feme sole estate. Historically, the feme sole estate was a method of holding property available exclusively to women. In Jacobs v. Meade, it was contended that since a man possessed no corresponding right to create a separate equitable estate, the feme sole estate was constitutionally defective on equal protection grounds.