The mistake is in your premise that the husband is "rewarding" the wife at the time of her departure, that he is giving her something that is "his". The realit

The mistake is in your premise that the husband is "rewarding" the wife at the time of her departure, that he is giving her something that is "his". The reality is that the husband and wife both own 50% of the house the entire time, and either party can choose to divorce and cash out their half. Every day that you are married, you are saying that whatever assets or debts come into the marital unit that day are 50% owned by both parties. In that sense, nothing is actually "redistributed" at the time of dissolution.