This thread actually has me thinking, and I've been trying to find a good list of the benefits of marriage that isn't put out by some ultra-conservative group. Here's one from
this site:
-Insurance benefits through a spouses employer
-Insurance discounts offered to married couples and related persons living in same household
-Government benefits such as Social Security and Medicare
-Veterans/military benefits offered to spouses (education, medical care, housing loans)
-Income tax deductions, credits and exemptions
-Tax relief for natural disaster losses
-Immigration of foreign partners
-Witness and court testimony rights
-Continuation of lease rights (renewal of lease)
-Community property rights
-Inheritance rights
-Payment of wages for deceased partners and workers compensation benefits
-Right to enter into pre-marital agreement
-Automatic rights of survivorship
-Consent to post-mortem examination
-Right to make burial arrangements
-Bereavement leave for partner, child, or partner's close relative
-Family leave to care for partner or child during illness
-Right to make decisions in medical emergencies ( "next of kin")
-Visitation rights for partner or child in hospital or other public institutions
-Custodial rights for a seriously injured partner
-Right to file a wrongful death suit
-Tuition discounts/use of facilities
-Company benefits/perks offered to spouses
-Commercial discounts/incentives offered only to married couples or families
-Joint child custody, adoption and foster care rights
-Equitable divison of property, child custody, visitation rights and support in the case of divorce
-The right to obtain domestic violence protection orders
Many of these benefits could be obtained in other ways -- you don't need the inheritance rights if you have a will, for example, and I'm pretty sure you could set up a power of attorney to give your partner the ability to make medical decisions for you.
Doesn't the importance of marriage come, most of the time, from religion? If you're not religious, why is marriage important even if you do plan to have children? What's the real point of it?