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Originally Posted by knight_shadow
I believe he's talking about the other matters. Issues like child support are handled in the courts and distribution of property after death are handled by (correct me if I'm wrong) probate courts.
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While true, the status of marriage automatically grants all of those rights and benefits onto the spouses. Though they could all be negotiated legally and separately it would create a rather heavy burden on the courts. Which then would be alleviated by creating some sort of status that couples could sign up for... which would essentially be marriage.
It would be nearly impossible to do it at this point. (And it's one of the reason that civil unions are often not effective solutions, the rights granted by marriage are not necessarily granted via civil union and particularly not if the couple moves to another state. )