Question on Divorce in NYC early 1900's

[fadippides]

I was looking at a paper from a divorce in Manhattan in the early 1900's and it had a couple of stipulations which I thought were odd for the time:

Wife got full custody of the children
Husband was not allowed to remarry while wife was alive.

Are these odd for the time period? and what could they imply?

[johnnyonthespot]

I am sure that was long before "no fault" divorce, meaning that in most cases one partner had to prove the other was not upholding the terms of the marriage. Typically infidelity would be charged; sometimes it never actually occurred but the partners wanted out of the marriage and one would "admit" to having an affair so that the other would have a valid claim for divorce.

Mothers getting sole custody of children was commonplace until relatively recent times, I believe.

[Italysearcher]

I wonder if his not being allowed to remarry had something to do with inheritance, pensions etc.
Mothers usually got sole custody if the husband was the guilty party.