(1) Once the Right to Dower is vested, it is never lost:
Dower is such an important aspect of a Muslim-marriage that in every marriage this right is immediately vested in the wife.
Once this right is vested in the wife or accrues to her, it can never be divested, howsoever blame-worthy her subsequent conduct may be. Under Muslim-law, the wife’s right to dower is not lost even if:
(1) She renounces Islam, or
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(2) Commits suicide, or
(3) Commits adultery, or
(4) Commits the murder of her husband.
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It is to be noted that these are the examples of the worst type of matrimonial offences. But the wife’s right to dower is not forfeited ever, in these cases and she is entitled to her dower as if nothing has happened. Moreover, when a Muslim-wife seeks the dissolution of her marriage under any of the grounds mentioned in the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939, and her marriage is dissolved, her right to dower remains intact.
Section 5 of this Act provides that nothing contained in this Act shall affect any right, which a married woman may have under Muslim-law, to her dower or any part thereof, on the dissolution of her marriage.
(2) Unpaid Dower is an Unsecured Debt:
It is the legal obligation of a husband to pay dower to the wife. An unpaid dower is like a simple debt in which the husband is like a debtor and the wife is like a creditor. That is to say, before the payment of dower (Specified or Proper), the legal position of the husband is; as if the husband has taken some loan from the wife which he could not satisfy as yet.
It is relevant to note that if the husband has been giving some money to wife from time to time (as normally happens in the married life) without mentioning that these payments are towards unpaid dower then, such money cannot be regarded as payment of dower-debt.
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Debts are of Two Kinds:
Secured and unsecured. Debt is secured if some property is specified for securing repayment of loan e.g. pledge or mortgage. In unsecured debt no property is specified as security for repayment. Unsecured debt is simple debt and is an actionable claim.
Thus an unpaid dower is an actionable claim of the wife against her husband. For example, if a husband has taken some money as loan from A and В and some money was fixed in his marriage as dower which he could not pay to the wife as yet. Here A and В are entided to take back their loans from the husband because they are creditors. In the same manner, the wife too is entitled to claim her dower from the husband like his other creditors A and B.
A wife, whose dower remains unpaid, is treated as a creditor together with other creditors, if any, of the husband. But the dower-debt cannot be given any priority or preference over other debts. In Kapore Chand v. Kadar Unnissa, the Supreme Court has observed that an unpaid dower is like an ordinary debt and stands on the same footing as any other unsecured debt.
The wife cannot say that her claim is superior to that of other creditors of the husband. The legal nature of an unpaid dower is, therefore, that it is an unsecured debt for which the husband is personally liable to the wife. If the husband dies, dower remaining unpaid, the widow together with other creditors, may recover it from his properties.