As the mother, no less than the father of a family, is made the object of ancestral "worship," it follows that she succeeds, nominally if not always actually, to her deceased husband's control over the family property. A widow is regarded as possessing a life-interest in her husband's lands, subject of course to the rights, actual or potential, of her sons. If the _fên-chia_ has already taken place, all she can personally control is her _yang-lao-ti_. If, however, she enters into a second marriage, she must relinquish all her rights in her first husband's property. The reason of this is obvious. If widows were allowed to endow their second husbands with the property of the first, there would be a gradual disintegration of the system of family-ownership. There would no longer be any guarantee that the land would follow the "name." If the "family-division" or _fên-chia_ does not take place till after the father's death but during the lifetime of the mother, the deed of division or _fên-shu_ must make reference to the fact that the transaction has received the mother's authorisation. The following may be taken as a very ordinary type of _fên-shu_ in Weihaiwei: "This _fên-shu_ is made under the authority of Yü Ts'ung Shih.[92] There are three sons, of whom the second, Shu-yen, has been 'adopted out' to another branch of the family.[93] The following division of property is made between the eldest son Shu-tung and the third son Shu-shan. The division is necessary because the families of Shu-tung and Shu-shan have become so large that it is no longer convenient for them all to live together. With the knowledge and assent of their relatives they have drawn lots for the division of the property, and the result is as follows: Shu-tung's share is the plot of land ...; Shu-shan's share is the family house, consisting of the three-roomed central building and two side-buildings of two rooms each, together with the garden and fields bounded.... This deed is made out in duplicate, in order that Shu-tung and Shu-shan may each possess an original and hold it as his just title to the property allotted to him. This deed is drawn up and attested by the clan-members so that none of the parties concerned may hereafter go back on the division of property herein described. If any one raises any complaint hereafter, let him be sent to the magistrate in order that he may receive punishment for the crime of want of filial piety (_pu hsiao_)." Then follow the names of a number of attesting and assenting relatives, the name of the writer of the deed, and the date. Simultaneously a second deed, called a _ch'u tan_ or Reservation of _Yang-lao-ti_, is very often drawn up in such terms as these: