In In re Flasch, 51 N.J. Super. 1, 20, 143 A.2d 208 (App.Div.), the critical issue presented was whether the husband's failure during his lifetime to ask that his curtesy interest be transformed into an interest in the proceeds of sale prevented his heirs from obtaining his curtesy interest. Id. at 20, 143 A.2d 208. The Court held that the widower's interest abated with his death. Id. at 22, 143 A.2d 208. The wife passed away, and the marital home, which was titled in her name, passed to her minor sons, then very young. Id. at 9-10, 143 A.2d 208. The husband remarried three years after his wife's death, obtained court permission to sell the home, and moved the family to California where he purchased a new home with the sale proceeds. Id. at 10, 143 A.2d 208. The family continued to reside in California until the widower died. Id. at 11, 143 A.2d 208. Thereafter, his second wife and the children, whom she had adopted, returned to New Jersey where the wife filed a petition to admeasure her late husband's curtesy rights in the lands, sold nearly three years previously. Id. at 11-12, 143 A.2d 208. The trial court granted the motion, and awarded the husband's estate a gross sum in lieu of curtesy. Id. at 12, 143 A.2d 208. The Court reversed, concluding that, because the husband had not asserted his curtesy rights within his lifetime, he waived his curtesy interest. Id. at 22-23, 143 A.2d 208.