What does marriage mean these days?

Emmia

comeandgo said:

Emmia said:

Also, your current wills will be immediately invalid once you're married (if you do this), so you'll need to make new ones. 

And yes, being married makes splitting up (divorcing) harder, more expensive and risks the wealthier parties assets - I actually know a couple of people at work who have done the mortgage, kids etc. and been very happy get married and then have (not that long later) got  divorced... marriage is different somehow from being unmarried.

Depends which country they are in.

England. 

The key point really is that marrying usually invalidates wills, so the OP should bear that in mind if they decide to tie the knot. 

gwynlas

There was another post on the forum this week from somebody in a similar situation but where property was in his name and she was employed in their business. Being unmarried and unhappy she could end up walking away with nothing but child support. Advantages in later life where relationship status taken into account at hospitals and care homes.

sheramber

Emmia said:

comeandgo said:

Emmia said:

Also, your current wills will be immediately invalid once you're married (if you do this), so you'll need to make new ones. 

And yes, being married makes splitting up (divorcing) harder, more expensive and risks the wealthier parties assets - I actually know a couple of people at work who have done the mortgage, kids etc. and been very happy get married and then have (not that long later) got  divorced... marriage is different somehow from being unmarried.

Depends which country they are in.

England. 

The key point really is that marrying usually invalidates wills, so the OP should bear that in mind if they decide to tie the knot. 

In England and Wales , yes, but not in Scotland.

Malthusian

Emmia said:

And yes, being married makes splitting up (divorcing) harder, more expensive and risks the wealthier parties assets - I actually know a couple of people at work who have done the mortgage, kids etc. and been very happy get married and then have (not that long later) got  divorced... marriage is different somehow from being unmarried.

You know them better than me, but I'll lay a fiver that the marriage wasn't different at all, it just threw all the issues that were already there into sharper focus.
It is not uncommon for couples to marry thinking it will be a magic solution to their relationship issues, and then divorce shortly after when they realise it isn't.
If they intertwined their finances to the extent that they had a mortgage together and kids, there is no reason anyone should shed a tear if the financially weaker partner took away a fairer share of their marital assets thanks to marriage. In some countries (not the UK) they would have been treated as married anyway.

Gavin83

Malthusian said:

Emmia said:

And yes, being married makes splitting up (divorcing) harder, more expensive and risks the wealthier parties assets - I actually know a couple of people at work who have done the mortgage, kids etc. and been very happy get married and then have (not that long later) got  divorced... marriage is different somehow from being unmarried.

You know them better than me, but I'll lay a fiver that the marriage wasn't different at all, it just threw all the issues that were already there into sharper focus.
It is not uncommon for couples to marry thinking it will be a magic solution to their relationship issues, and then divorce shortly after when they realise it isn't.
If they intertwined their finances to the extent that they had a mortgage together and kids, there is no reason anyone should shed a tear if the financially weaker partner took away a fairer share of their marital assets thanks to marriage. In some countries (not the UK) they would have been treated as married anyway.

I agree with this. Marriage really isn't any different than not being married with a house, kids, etc. It feels a little more official but that's it. I expect they had serious issues already, figured getting married would resolve them and then realised it made very little difference at all.

DullGreyGuy

sarcal3813 said:

So myself and my partner have been together almost 11 years, we have a house, two children together (and my two sons live with us) and are very happy. 

My question is, although both of us have wills stating what we’d like to happen in the event of our passing… Is there any benefit to being married? Neither of us are bothered about marriage, so if there was benefit to it, we’d literally go to a registry office and sign the paperwork. 

A neighbour got married after 20 years together, mainly because if he died first and they were unmarried she'd get nothing from his pension whereas if they were married she'd get 50% for the rest of her life. Sadly a couple of years later she's received a terminal diagnosis and so it's unlikely it'll have been helpful in the end but the theory was good at the time. 

There are various times where a married couple can simply act for each other whereas an unmarried couple cannot. For example an unmarried man must be present to have his name on the birth certificate of their kids whereas a wife can put their husbands name on it without their presence. 

Exodi

In my opinion, it's predominantly to to offer reassurance to the parent (typically the mother) who will make career sacrifices to provide the majority of the childcare from being left high and dry with just the clothes on their back in the event of a break up.

There was a thread that could be a case study for marriage only a couple down: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6482552/splitting-finances-fairly/p1