Occasionally I come across wills where money or real estate was left to women "and not subject or liable to the debts or engagements of any husband she may have." That was from a spinster aunt to a niece in Lancashire in 1850. The niece did marry soon afterwards, so the testator expected it.
Even as early as 1699 in Glamorgan a man left his daughter ten pounds "and in no way att the disposal of her p[re]sent husband"
Given that the normal thing was for women's property to be immediately at the disposal of their husbands, how did these provisions "stick"? Was it simply at the say-so of the will?
And why didn't all testators protect their wives/widows and daughters this way instead of leaving them open to the attentions of predatory fortune hunters?
If it was legal and possible to give women control of their own money, why didn't everyone do it? Or were women usually thought to be incapable? Or was there some financial limit?

Barbara