Quote:
Originally Posted by Madelaine Amee
Great post Boomer. So much I agree with and so much I have seen happen to desperately lonely people when they lose their partner. Can never understand "old" people getting married again, you nursed one old man so you want to do it again - and this one you have no history with, no memories of great times? If you cannot live alone, live with but don't marry. I'm one of the lucky ones .... I still have my first love alive and well.  |
Because in some states, if your beloved non-wife is hospitalized and her darling daughter shows up and forbids you from visiting her, you aren't allowed to visit her. Even if she's dying. And then when it's time to settle the estate, it's a bloody mess when daughter gets everything in her mother's name - including her mother's half of the house you are living in.
Then there's the whole "married filing jointly" issue for taxes. And social security payments to widows/widowers.
Marriage is a legal contract that comes with benefits non-married couples aren't entitled to.
I love my husband dearly and am glad to call him husband, and live with him til death do we part. But that marriage contract protects each of us, and both of us as a couple and a potential widow/widower.