[sageofages]

Originally posted by James
It kind of begs the question though . . . People could get married in a public ceremony without the state getting invovled.

Hell then you could take out an add in a national paper which is about as public as it gets and informs more people.

In which case you would still be able to leave without penalty should either of you decide to do so . . ..

The legal state marriage makes leaving problematical.

and

Originally posted by AGDee
Other than societal rules about who can make medical decisions for you, who can visit you if you're in ICU, etc, I see no reason for marriage. There are financial benefits if one spouse dies, because you can get Social Security and other issues like that, but other than those things that society has imposed on us, there truly is no reason (other than religious beliefs).

Dee

My father-in-law and pseudo-mother-in-law had a public 'wedding' ceremony without making it legal (hence the pseudo-mother-in-law moniker...I don't like her either). This was because of financial considerations...he is retired military, she is widow of retired military. She loses first husband's pension if she remarries, and then if something happened to father-in-law, she would lose all her income.

BUT...father-in-law has a bigger estate and HER children are circling like sharks...lack of legal status can be a problem in California because of common-law marriage statutes. (Mr Sageofages and his sister have consulted a lawyer).

Fortunately without documents, a good lawyer can keep everything separate and away from her greed spawnling.

A good reason for not getting married when you are over 75!!!