Not married? Living together? Protect yourself!

shop-to-drop

I really don't understand the arguments against getting married. Costs around £150 I believe so not really an argument.

mamabuddah

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Surely the OP deserves more sympathy than this!

Anyway, the simple fact of being married would not have helped much with the difficulties she encountered.

The OP mentioned this...

"We have 2 children and are all but in name married but no one would deal with me."

thats why my first point was "It's nobody else's fault" they're not married then went on to make my other points re sharing information...married or not...agreed, its not a nice situation to be in re: the assault but anything I posted was regards the mess they find themselves in now...I assume the OP wasn't posting for a sympathy vote

Madjock

esuhl wrote: »

Or to turn that around, if you know you love someone and they know you love them, etc... Why would you have to get married anyway? Who would you be trying to prove your love to? And if you needed to go to such lengths to prove your love because you knew it wouldn't be taken on trust, is the relationship really strong enough?

Sure, some couples might want to get married just for the ceremony or tradition or because they think of the process as somehow romantic, but different strokes for different folks and all that...

As far as I can see, the only reason to marry (or not) is to gain tax advantages, rights to dual-nationality, and (in the OP's case) a limited ability to operate your partner's affairs if they are incapacitated.

What patronising bullsh1t. I too got married because I loved my husband. I too got married on a shoestring, and 18 years later I don't regret it.

Mupette

OP been in a similar situation about 10 years ago.

a dear friend of mine was involved in a car crash, and was left in a coma, her mother didn't have access to anything and didn't know how, i kindly said i would.

BT, SKY, utilities was all a nightmare, especially when i felt they didnt believe me (again yes i know why should they)

Even her landlord (bristol city council) were not sure how to handle it, i told them the situation and i always gave the info of which hospital she was in which ward etc, they gave her a few months grace for her rent, she was getting sick pay from work (i worked with her) so i knew she would have a little income comming in, all i wanted to do was inform everyone and freeze everything.

after several weeks of me ringing up and debtline involved we got all but sky stopped.

Fortunately she did recover but had a degree of brain damage and she changed, i havent seen her in about 8 years, but i'm still glad i tried to keep her out of debt, wasn't her fault and she was so young, and after being told by her doctors (her mum next of kin was there) that she would not be the same girl again, last thing she needed was to have debt collectors etc to deal with, the idiot who was driving the car left her for dead and walked out of court a free man (her so called boyfried who wouldnt go to the hospital to see her)

melancholly

i think the idea of this thread was to use the OP's experience to warn others about how difficult things can be. they don't need to be told that it was their fault (come on! they know that! they're trying to stop other people ending up in the same situation!), but hopefully some other people will read and make some changes themselves. i'm not married but will now look up POA stuff. i know my parents have that on one account of mine, but not on my main current account or any savings (however limited they may be!)