In addition to the flexibility in marriage and residence norms, a common practice, now in decline, was to give a married woman some land in her natal village as taben jom (literally sufficient to eat) or maintenance by her father, brothers, or other male agnates. Not more than tenbighas, this gift of land was generally made out of affection, and also worked as an insurance against a bad marriage. Upon her death although her sons were allowed to use the land, the control of this property remained with her patrilyny, rather than passing on to her husband.