Section 1043. Dower, how admeasured

The referee or the commissioners must
  execute their duties in the following manner:
    1. They must, if it is practicable, and, in  their  opinion,  for  the
  best  interests  of all the parties concerned, admeasure and lay off, as
  speedily as possible, as the dower of the plaintiff, a distinct  parcel,
  constituting  the  one-third part of the real property of which dower is
  to be admeasured, designating the part so laid off by posts, stones,  or
  other permanent monuments.
    2.  In making the admeasurement, they must take into consideration any
  permanent improvements, made upon the real property, after the death  of
  the plaintiff's husband, or after the alienation thereof by him; and, if
  practicable, those improvements must be awarded within the part not laid
  off  to  the plaintiff; or, if it is not practicable so to award them, a
  deduction must be  made  from  the  part  laid  off  to  the  plaintiff,
  proportionate to the benefit which she will derive from so much of those
  improvements, as is included in the part laid off to her.
    3.  If  it is not practicable, or if, in the opinion of the referee or
  commissioners, it is not for the  best  interests  of  all  the  parties
  concerned,  to  admeasure and lay off to the plaintiff a distinct parcel
  of the property, as prescribed in the  foregoing  subdivisions  of  this
  section, they must report that fact to the court.
    4.  They  may employ a surveyor, with the necessary assistants, to aid
  in the admeasurement.