Where, in a case specified in the last section, the mortgagee, or a person claiming under him, causes the land mortgaged to be sold, after the death of the husband, either under a power of sale contained in the mortgage, or by virtue of a judgment in an action to foreclose the mortgage, and any surplus remains, after payment of the money due on the mortgage and the costs and charges of the sale, the widow is nevertheless entitled to the interest or income of one-third part of the surplus for her life, as her dower.
New York Legal Code