Since Ted Kennedy and other mysoginist pondscum women and children hating men authored the no fault divorce in the 1970s, the marriage law offers NO PROTECTION TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN DIVORCE. All a marriage license does is make it easier to drag a man into court.
I work in finance and have seen husbands take all the marital equity out of the marital homes, some even forge wives signatures to steal ALL the equity out of the marital house, these dissolute men clean out bank accounts, dissolve stock portfolios, take a loan against, or transfer 401Ks to sisters, brothers, new spouses and rob the spouse and children of ALL equity, all marital savings and all joint marital income. Then these men QUIT JOBS, cry poverty and many often SKIP state and others leave the country to avoid paying the wife compensation or child support, these men transfer all the joint marital money into a relatives name or bury it as cash
Often a wife gets left with the husbands credit card and business loan and home equity loan DEBTS. With unscrupulous financial equity loan sharks advertising 24/7 on radio, tv, on the net, etc, this is all very very very common.
In marriage divorce, the only people who win are the attorneys.
Marriage offers NO PROTECTION to women who do NOT DEMAND full financial accountability and transparency upfront.