Under the common law, transfers of real estate directly between husband and wife were invalid.

Under modern statutes a husband may make a gift of any property which he desires to his wife, and such gift will be upheld, if not in fraud of creditors. There is no need of any valuable consideration in such cases; the good consideration of blood and affection is sufficient. Where the husband purchases property with his own money, and takes the title in the name of his wife, the presumption of the law is that the intention was to make a gift of the property to the wife. An advancement is property transferred from husband to wife during his lifetime, with the intention that the same shall constitute a portion of that part of the estate of the husband to which the wife would be entitled upon the death of the husband.

17 The contract except in a few States being not void but merely unenforceable.