(July 9, 2015 at 6:38 pm)Minimalist Wrote:Quote: Marriage is a legal contract. If one wants the contract, then it makes sense to get married. If one does not want the contract, then it does not.
If anyone is unsure whether they want such a contract or not, I recommend not getting married until and unless one is reasonably certain one wants it.
Yes, but. Beware of "Palimony."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimony
Quote:Palimony is the division of financial assets and real property on the termination of a personal live-in relationship wherein the parties are not legally married. The term "palimony" is not a legal or historical term, but rather a colloquial portmanteau of the words pal and alimony coined by celebrity divorce attorney Marvin Mitchelson in 1977 when his client Michelle Triola Marvin filed an unsuccessful suit against the actor Lee Marvin
Yes. Not getting married does not guarantee a trouble-free life. However, in that particular case, Lee Marvin won and did not have to pay her, according to the rest of the Wikipedia article. Still, it was a hassle for him, and could have easily been avoided if he had not lived with her. He is lucky that California had abolished common law marriages long ago. But not all states have abolished it, so one should look into that before moving in together or one might end up married anyway. And that is likely to be very inconvenient, as one may be married without having documentation showing one is married, so that one is likely to get screwed both by some people not recognizing the common law marriage when it would be good for you, and by recognizing it when it would be bad for you.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
