It is more like this:
Assume both makes money now, then assets are divided by two,not by the total number of the household. But...
House: because wife has custody of the children, she gets to have the house, the hu*****and continues to pay his share of mortgage. Once children grow up, the wife sells the house, then the hu*****and gets to have the half of the proceeds. When he dies, the children get his money.
Child support: Assume wife continues to work after divorce, then both wife and hu*****and share the costs of raising children. The rule is that children's living standard should not suffer as a result of divorce, so whatever they have now, like fancy car, private school, vacationa all count. Using that standard, the judge comes up with a number, hu*****and is required to pay half.
He has no control over how the wife spends them though.
Alimony: Because wife may have to stay home to take care of children because of divorce, hu*****and has to pay alimony for her until she gets remarried.
As you can see,usually the hu*****and is financially broke after divorce.