@Vix0r
Getting married isn't silly. Two salutory tales.

I know of a couple who said exactly the same. They were very happy together and so no reason to change that basis. No problem with incommonlaws. Then he died at the age of 32 after a sudden and massive brain haemhorrage. 3 days after the funeral his mother and father turned up, demmanded their half of the house and took his car as it was in his name. If they'd been married that would not have been possible.

Recently my mother was turfed out of the home she'd shared with her fiance for about 10 years with a derisory pay-off after he died on their pre-nuptual relax holiday. They were going to sort out the legal stuff when they returned.

Marriage might seem silly on an emotional basis but unless you take all reasonable legal steps to protect each other it is still the easiest way to protect your loved one against grasping relatives.

Please note this counts as advice from an old person cos I'm now cruising to the Hawaiian birthday.

Edit: I changed my mind and posted this in main as I think it deserves it's own post.
(porkylips looks better as the sun goes down., Fri 20 Jun 2008, 11:54, 7 replies)

some good points
but mainly I like the term Hawaiian birthday

it's subtle
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 20 Jun 2008, 12:11, closed)

Erm...
...wouldn't a will suffice?
(IHaveTheRightToArmBears, Fri 20 Jun 2008, 13:03, closed)

Ever heard of personal messages, no?
Marriage is silly. This is my personal opinion. I see no point in it what so ever except to abide by what society/religion/the government wants.

I never ever want to be "mrs" anything. I never want to be legally bound to anyone. Ceremonies seem to be a load of pretentious wank.

I want to be with my mister. I want to live life to the full. I want to spend it with him until I die, and then still be with him.

Marriage is just something humans have invented that I have no reason to agree with. Do you see the animals who mate for life wearing white dresses and signing legal certificates?

Nope.
( vix0r was not Matthew on, Fri 20 Jun 2008, 13:22, closed)

As I said in my edit...
I changed my mind.

Good for you if that's the way you view marriage. I used to think that way too but decided to play the game to society's rules cos it's the easier option and I'm all for easy. Thankfully you can have your opinion and I can have mine. And long may we co-exist in happiness. Wish we had nice emoticons.

: ) instead.
(porkylips looks better as the sun goes down., Fri 20 Jun 2008, 14:21, closed)

Legal stuff
Are you guys British? Because in Britain, common law marriage isn't recognised, whereas here in the progressive and not totally fucking insane colonies, an abortion like the examples given wouldn't happen, or would be ameliorated by the whole "living in a marriage-like situation" thing we have here (Australia - Lionel Murphy all is forgiven).

Nevertheless, as someone else has already posted - wills are your friend! Make one today!
(Emily Bruce-Dickinson http://jovialfellow.blogspot.com/, Sat 21 Jun 2008, 1:23, closed)

Marriage does simplify the paperwork ...
there are still certain pension rights only payable to a spouse or civil partner. Here in Scotland, I think it's still possible to be declared "married by habit and repute" after the death of one partner.
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Sat 21 Jun 2008, 11:29, closed)

England
Has something similar but the amounts involved and awarded are normally based around "adequate provision for a survivng partner" which isn't much use really. Go wills!

Also if both parents die in a car crash or some other heinous accident, grandparents have no automatic right to the children. They can still be taken into local authority care and a will is the only way to be certain to avoid this in the first instance. Barbaric huh?
(porkylips looks better as the sun goes down., Mon 23 Jun 2008, 8:53, closed)