Well, yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alimony#England https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alimony#England Under traditional English common law, a woman gave up

Well, yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alimony#England https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alimony#England Under traditional English common law, a woman gave up her personal property rights on marriage (see Coverture). Upon separation from marriage, the husband retained the right to the wife's property, but, in exchange, had an ongoing responsibility to support the wife after dissolution of the marriage.[6][7] English law was amended by legislation including the Married Women's Property Act 1870 and Married Women's Property Act 1882 which reformed women's property rights relating to marriage, by, for example, permitting divorced women to regain the property they owned before marriage.[7][26][27][28] "Dissolution" is a strong word considering traditional Christian beliefs, and it would seem that a man couldn't simply divorce a woman and her children and wash his hands of responsibilities, even if spending a year dead for tax purposes. Because a woman entering marriage with a dowry, with property, with capital assets: those would be entrusted to the entire family and so the man, offspring, and heirs would end up with management of whatever resulted, during the marriage, after the divorce, and after his own bodily death