There are a couple of situations, and a lot of fact variations. I’m not going to get into all of them, but feel free to ask questions.
Most young ladies—especially if they had property—had guardians appointed by their fathers in the event of the father’s death. The young ladies would also have trustees. These were not the same people. So we’ll take that case first. I’m also assuming that she is in London for the Season. If a lady was a minor she would have to have the guardian’s permission to marry and, possibly, to receive her dowry. There was a way to avoid the permission by having the banns called. The only problem is that if the lady and her gentleman were trying to be sneaky about it, that wasn’t easily done. Someone was bound to find out and an objection could be made. In the general way of things, the gentleman who wanted to marry her would approach the guardian before he spoke to the lady and request permission to marry her. If the guardian wasn’t around, he would approach whoever was sponsoring the lady and ask how to contact the guardian.
The second case is where the father dies and no guardian has been appointed. The lady would live with a relative or a godparent and either an application would be made to the Chancery court or not. If there was not an appointed guardian, the only way the lady could marry as a minor was in church by having the banns called. Neither a special license nor a regular license would be valid. By custom, the young man would still speak with the guardian.
During the Regency, most gentlemen, particularly those with wives and children, had wills. There are some very famous cases of what happened when one didn’t have a will. One of the cases began in 1798 and ended in 1915 when the legal fees had used up all the money at issue. The three cases I looked at all involved men who were not of the gentry, and had made their own money. I suspect they didn’t have a good understanding of what would happen if they died intestate.
#RegencyTrivia #HistoricalRomance #HistoricalFiction #ReadaRegency
ellaquinnauthor
Reblogged this on Between the Chapters Extras.
Thank you!
The case you cited lasting over one hundred years must rival anything in Dickens’ Bleak House! On another note, it’s still a good idea to split guardianship responsibilities–one for the money, and one for the kid.
Absolutely!