What do you get from getting married?

Diagro said:
thats just lucky.

I have been with the missus for 8 years and yet to get married (cant afford) but i call her my wife.
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Marriage costs a couple of hundred quid. That is cheap compared to sorting the legal benefits out individually.

If it's the big party that you can't afford, you could have a quiet wedding now and a big party later. It's the getting married that counts...
 
Skidder said:
fair enough didn't think of that, I'm married for non-tax reasons :)
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Me too, but I was just going over what the tangible legal benefits are as they are the ones that actually differ between marriage and cohabiting. The love, sharing, support etc can all be found outside of marriage.

J.T said:
I will have been with my good lady for almost 20 years (will be 20 on March 24 2013), we have three fantastic children (1 boy who is 12 and 2 girls 10 and 2) a nice house and we share everything, I would say that’s commitment wouldn’t you?

p.s. we are not married but we are not against marriage either and do plan to do it at some point it's just not as important as some make out. :)
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It's commitment but you are lacking some important legal protections. Unless you have specifically applied for it you may not have parental responsibility over your children, if your partner falls seriously ill you will have no say over what treatment she has, if either you or your partner die then the surviving party could be hit with a large tax bill depending on how large the estate is.
 
You know what, despite what loads of people are saying here, I didn't think of the legal or the financial benefits of being married (I didn't even know what they were)....I asked my wife to marry me because I love her more than any other human being (besides my Son) on this planet and marriage is a way of illustrating that....it might be simply a convention and yes, people can feel and be as committed to each other without that convention, but for me (and my wife) it is an expression of our commitment to each and our intention to share our lives together no matter what that might bring.

Everything else is secondary to that.
 
Well basically some people do because they want to do things properly like married > house > kid in that order to ensure they don't get frowned at by family.

Also there might be tax breaks next year so get married before they start asking why you're getting married. Check news site for this month for discussions around married tax breaks for 2013.
 
Castiel said:
You know what, despite what loads of people are saying here, I didn't think of the legal or the financial benefits of being married (I didn't even know what they were)....I asked my wife to marry me because I love her more than any other human being (besides my Son) on this planet and marriage is a way of illustrating that....it might be simply a convention and yes, people can feel and be as committed to each other without that convention, but for me (and my wife) it is an expression of our commitment to each and our intention to share our lives together no matter what that might bring.

Everything else is secondary to that.
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Eugh this is such soppy and romantic drivel I might vomit.

I also happen to agree with every word you said :). For me, it was about cementing for everyone else what I know: that I'm a very lucky man, I wouldn't be where I am without her, and nor would I want to be :).
 
Castiel said:
You know what, despite what loads of people are saying here, I didn't think of the legal or the financial benefits of being married (I didn't even know what they were)....I asked my wife to marry me because I love her more than any other human being (besides my Son) on this planet and marriage is a way of illustrating that....it might be simply a convention and yes, people can feel and be as committed to each other without that convention, but for me (and my wife) it is an expression of our commitment to each and our intention to share our lives together no matter what that might bring.

Everything else is secondary to that.
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Same for me. I married my wife for similar reasons. I'd also like to think that our stable and loving marriage has had a positive effect on my son.

jimbob27 said:
The legal right to demand a sandwich every now and again.
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Don't remember seeing that in my marriage vows... :D
 
RDM said:
It's commitment but you are lacking some important legal protections. Unless you have specifically applied for it you may not have parental responsibility over your children, if your partner falls seriously ill you will have no say over what treatment she has, if either you or your partner die then the surviving party could be hit with a large tax bill depending on how large the estate is.
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My children have my surname and I am on their birth certificates, not had any issues with parental responsibility issues so far am I likely to have? if anything I have the less issues as my good lady has a different name to them which does seem to confuse some people.

The illness thing is not likely to be an issue realistically I would have thought, unless we are talking “turn off the life support” type issues and her Mum not agreeing.

We have no "Estate" so to speak save the house and car but most is covered under our Will.

As I said before though, I am planning to marry her at some point but this whole argument about people being more committed if married is just stupid!
 
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A feeling of 'progress'?

Afterall from childhood we're always seeing people get married and we accept is as a part of life just like eating and taking a dump. So naturally we mirror the external environment and do the same without really thinking about it. Personally I don't see the point in it other than becoming legally binded and tbh I wouldn't marry someone who I was so insecure about that I would feel the need to do that.
 
J.T said:
My children have my surname and I am on their birth certificates, not had any issues with parental responsibility issues so far am I likely to have?
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You may not have legal parental responsibility, which shouldn't mean much normally but could cause problems. Not a solicitor so unsure on the full details.

J.T said:
if anything I have the less issues as my good lady has a different name to them which does seem to confuse some people.
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However as the mother she automatically gets legal parental responsibility.

J.T said:
The illness thing is not likely to be an issue realistically I would have thought, unless we are talking “turn off the life support” type issues and her Mum not agreeing.
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Turn off the life support, organ donation, any treatment that she cannot consent to, no right to organise funeral, cannot report her death unless the first person to witness it. You may or may not be able to do all of those, being married it becomes an automatic right.

J.T said:
We have no "Estate" so to speak save the house and car but most is covered under our Will.
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The difference is that being unmarried any property that you inherit from her (or her you of course) could be subject to inheritance tax.

J.T said:
As I said before though, I am planning to marry her at some point but this whole argument about people being more committed if married is just stupid!
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I am making no comment at all on levels of commitment, that is down to the individual couple, just outlining some of the legal consequences of cohabiting rather than being married.
 
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