18th c dower

I truly do not see why it should matter what the parties names are. So
I'm not giving any.

Mr A marries Miss B in 1747. 3 years later, Mr A marries Miss C, and
lives an additional 50 years. About 16 years after Mr A marries Miss C,
Mr A's father pays Mr D for Mrs D's dower interest in Mr A's estate. Mr
A's will is dated 30 years after this payoff.

Eve McLaughlin...

Sounds like a classic case where the estate of A senior is encumbered by
a dower right of a previous widow (of the grandfather of Mr A) - this is
the most likely, would mean that the ex-widow was a young second wife,
or lived abnormally long, given the chronology.

or possibly the A estate first went to an elder brother of Mr A senior,
and he died leaving no children, but a widow with a right to a life rent
charged on the family estate;
or just possibly that this assumed elder brother left a daughter,
unable to inherit the main (entailed) estate, but somehow entitled to a
share of unentailed land.
And, in whatever case, the lady concerned had married Mr D meantime.)
(dower is the entitlement of a widow to a third in the estate for life.)

Or, alternatively, that the father of Miss C had another daughter and
co-heiress, who shared an estate with her sister (though Mr A was
actually living there with his second wife). A's father is rich enough
to buy up the other share for his son. This ought to be her heritable
interest rather than her dower, but terms can be used loosely.

singhals...

Thanks, Eve! I'll see how many of 'em couldn't apply and work with
what's left (g).

May I assume that, lacking an agreement to the contrary, divorce removes
a woman's dower-rights in her ex's property?

Is this *reasonable*?