Any downsides to not getting married?

JimmyTheWig

You can freely transfer assets between you if you are married. Which is a benefit if one of you pays a higher rate of income tax than the other as the savings can be kept in the name of the one who pays less tax.

And the IHT, that has been mentioned.

But generally there's no big advantages to either. I think it's more important whether you both want to be married or not.

londonsurrey

j.e.j. wrote: »

I'm not 100% sure about this but there may also be tax benefits to being married. It's the sort of thing the Tories like to encourage, lol

Years and years and years ago, there were. When I got married about two decades ago, I remember chasing the tax office for a few months to get the princely sum of £85 (it was partial credit for the year, but worth a lot to a then student. lol)

This amount was reduced year on year, and eventually withered away. So when the government tries to look sanctimonious about extolling "family values", it's being hypocritical and well, they haven't put any money(married tax benefits) on it.

When married tax benefit was first introduced decades ago, the number of marriages shot up.

lazer

bugslet wrote: »

We also put into place a Lasting Power of Atorney to cover making financial and health decisions in the event of one of us no longer having the mental capacity to look after ourselves. Unfortunately I've found out how useful that is in the last couple of months and it was well worth the costs. I believe you can do it yourself to cut the costs down, but I was quite happy to pay for a solicitor to do it and not worry that some i was not dotted.

This is what i never understand - it probably costs way more to pay to get a lasting power of attorney, wills, tax planning etc all sorted if not married, than it would actually cost to get married, so why not simply get married (Registry office ceremony and 2 witnesses is all it takes!)

PS - I am sorry for your current trouble

bugslet

Just me lazer. Mr bugslet would have got married any time, but I just hate the idea of being married. Parents had a horrendous marriage and it's just made me want to have a quick exit option! Doesn't make sense necessarily, but I'm far happier not being married - each to their own.

BTW, I get very excited when other people get married, love a good wedding:)

krlyr

lazer wrote: »

This is what i never understand - it probably costs way more to pay to get a lasting power of attorney, wills, tax planning etc all sorted if not married, than it would actually cost to get married, so why not simply get married (Registry office ceremony and 2 witnesses is all it takes!)

PS - I am sorry for your current trouble

Well, there are some negatives to being married in terms of rights too. E.g. split of assets on divorce and the fact that pre-nups aren't really taken so seriously here in the UK as in the USA. As per the MSE 'ethos', it's not about the cheapest solution but getting the most out of your money - so paying for the legal paperwork required to mimic marriage without the negative parts of it may be considered better for some.

londonsurrey

I haven't been keeping track - have they allowed civil partnerships for heterosexual partners yet?

Angry_Bear

Dammit, had just about finished typing up a reply and firefox crashed! :mad:

It boiled down to, most of what we own is in join names (certainly all the improtant stuff) so neither of us would be left in the lurch if it all went sour.
I hadn't considered issues of probate but we both work from separate current accounts and joint savings so that should be a problem.

I also hadn't considered Lasting Power of Attorney or next of kin as regards hospitals - I can't imagine how distressing it would be to have someone you love seriously ill and a hospital unable to give you information! I'll have to look into that.

We have considered that if there was something we couldn't "mimic" legally, then we would probably just get married down the registry office. But my family (and his) would be offended if we did it that way and not telling them feels very deceitful.

notanewuser

lazer wrote: »

This is what i never understand - it probably costs way more to pay to get a lasting power of attorney, wills, tax planning etc all sorted if not married, than it would actually cost to get married, so why not simply get married (Registry office ceremony and 2 witnesses is all it takes!)

PS - I am sorry for your current trouble

Indeed. Being married needn't change anything about your relationship. Your OH can keep her name and call herself Miss/Ms whatever, banking can stay as is etc. apart from our mortgage there is no financial connection between my husband and I, and we've been married without issue for 8 years!

You don't have to make a song and dance of it - you don't even have to tell people if you don't want to!!

getmore4less

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

I'm in the same situation and I often wonder what we've missed.

Following the death of OH's mum this year, one thing that worries me is our joint bank account. We have both retained our personal bank accounts, but we have joint savings and a joint current account from which the mortgage, bills and food payments come. In the event of one of us dying, I believe that the joint accounts would be frozen until Probate was completed, in which case, I've no idea how the bills would get paid.

I haven't looked into this thoroughly yet, but could this be an issue for you?

The joint account should changed to single name on presentation of the death certificate, they should not be frozen.

The important one to get right is the house, joint tenants or not.

This can be critical since there is no transferable nill rate band if not married, you have to structure the finances differently.

bugslet

Angry_Bear wrote: »

I also hadn't considered Lasting Power of Attorney or next of kin as regards hospitals - I can't imagine how distressing it would be to have someone you love seriously ill and a hospital unable to give you information! I'll have to look into that.

.

I haven't officially had to use it for health reasons actually. In short, he fell and was taken into hospital, from then on the extent of his cognitive problems was taken into account ( after months of my visiting the GP etc), and they have just accepted that as his partner of 27 years, I can make decisions. Apart from the first evening when I was away on business, I've had no problems, but it is nice to have back up.