Women were not just seen as not capable of handling finances, a married woman's property belonged to her husband. It was not until the Married Women's Property Act 1882 was passed that they had rights to their own property. A result was that the family of a single woman would create a trust, whereby the woman's property belonged to trustees, who might be her father or other males of the family or trusted professionals. They then paid sums specified and/or at their discretion, to her from the income of the trust's property and investments.That stopped her future husband owning that property and, naturally, getting his hands on wealth from her family which she might have or receive later.