Pros and cons of being married?

[Wowwhatalife]

I don’t mean in a romantic, emotional sense..just practical, money wise? What is there to be gained from being married? Especially if you have a child?
Are there and cons?

*Any

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/living-together-marriage-and-civil-partnership/living-together-and-marriage-legal-differences/

Not having to pay inheritance tax.

Marriage is a legal contract that protects the spouse in a weaker financial position. If one spouse has a lower income, fewer savings, and a smaller pension pot than the other spouse, it would be in their best interests to be married. They would get a fair share of the assets in the event of divorce. If you have children it's especially important because the person who sacrifices their financial independence in order to look after the children (usually the woman) is in a financially vulnerable position if not married.

If you weren't married and you separated, you would be entitled to child maintenance and nothing else from your ex.

Something else to consider is that if there is likely to big inheritance above the threshold for inheritance tax, you would not have to pay it if inheriting from a spouse, whereas you would if it was a partner.

Lots and lots of other differences and distinctions. Various financial benefits to being married.

Of course if you're in a much stronger financial position than your spouse and don't indeed to have children (or do but don't make any career sacrifices for them) then you might not feel that marriage would benefit you.

if there is likely to be

From my experience I would say it's more straightforward to be married if your partner dies, the admin is cut down a bit. Not much of an advert for it.

Civil partnerships are now also legal for opposite sex couples. So you van have legal rights and benefits of marriage without the religion/romance.

Its really for the protection of children... and yes it doesn't always work.

Oh god yes.
When I got divorced I found out the advantage of getting married. If we hadn’t been married house would have been split 50/50. As we were married lots of things were taken into consideration: me reducing work for childcare, where the kids were going to live, my health needs and future employment prospects, our pensions and the fact I hadn’t been able to contribute as much to mine. So although I’m worse off financially, than him, due to patriarchy, I received a much better financial outcome from our split than I would have otherwise, and this means that our children are far, far better provisioned for home-wise. Because he wouldn’t give a shit and make sure they were housed ok otherwise!

I'm a single woman with a child. I am lucky to have been able to buy my own home. For me, there are no benefits to marrying.

Marriage would increase risk by making me partially liable for my spouse's financial decisions, by risking my and my dc's happiness, and by giving someone else a claim over our home and my other assets.

Sad but can't be helped.

It depends on the economic power you have in the relationship. If you are a SAHP marriage is essential: Its financial insurance against the relationship breaking down or the death of your partner.

If you're working and have your own assets its more nuanced. If you both work its probably still worth it on balance. It's more complicated if you both have children from previous relationships as it could impact their inheritance.

If you're a woman and you are the sole or main breadwinner and particularly one bringing assets to the relationship its usually a bad decision unless you have a partner who genuinely does his fair share of the domestic load (and in my experience men who genuinely do this are vanishingly rare).

Depends on circumstances. I’m happily married to dh now so definitely not anti-marriage. We would both come out of a divorce ok, even though I was a sahm for many years. I’m fairness, dh isn’t a dick so I like to think he wouldn’t leave me penniless anyway but given some of the stuff I’ve read on here I’m glad that I don’t need to find out! We both went into the marriage young with very little, so no assets to protect, and everything we have we have built together.

But if dh and I were to separate I would not marry again. I would have nothing to gain and everything to lose. Even if I met someone in a similar situation, I wouldn’t want to complicate issues re my kids inheritance.

Money is a zero sum thing, so a ‘pro’ for one partner will be a ‘con’ for the other in most cases. It tends to be the woman for whom marriage will be advantageous, but not always.

The benefits of marriage mostly don’t become apparent until the marriage ends whether that’s through death or divorce. Then it formalises the separation process in case of divorce and gives you more control in case of death. When an elderly relative of mine died his partner of 20 years was pushed out of arrangements because she wasn’t entitled to register the death because she wasn’t a relative or arrange the funeral because there was no wills and it had to be done by the estate administrators which were his children. No will also meant that she was left with nothing whereas if they had been married she would have inherited the lot as it was a small estate.

If the partners are financially equal and remain so throughout the relationship, there would be less benefit to getting married?

@Wowwhatalife ask @EnglishMuffins who has recently posted a thread about being a stay at home, not married mum living in a house her partner owns. She might be able to give you a few pointers from her situation as to whether marriage is pointless or not!

@parentingperson

If the partners are financially equal and remain so throughout the relationship, there would be less benefit to getting married?

That's true, except that it protects any children from automatically having their assets halved in the event of a split.

Marriage is basically for non-working parents.

The more financial independence women have, the more irrelevant and less advantageous it becomes, although it can still be a useful way to backstop the division of assets in a fair way.

Look at Death in Service arrangements for your workplaces as well.

If DH dies at work, ill get a pension from them for the rest of my life. Thats on top of his life insurance (who he could in theory leave to anyone).

It also meant our daughter is legally considered to be born in the UK, although she was born abroad while DH was posted there by the Government (which means she can pass on her British citizenship to her children)

However if DH was to die, I would not remarry to protect DDs rights to inheritance etc.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves Can you tell me more about your child being considered British if married?
We live abroad, both British, Ds born where we are, what difference will it make to him if we marry?

@Wowwhatalife a child born abroad usually can't pass on British citizenship if they also have children born abroad. The exception to this is "Crown Servants" (such as diplomats and Armed Services)- the marriage part was more my entitlement to be there under the same rules since DH was the qualifying parent.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves So, our son won’t pass on British citizenship if he has children? He has a British birth certificate and two British parents?

If you have significant assets to your name then you would be insane to get married.

He might not automatically.

So, our son won’t pass on British citizenship if he has children? He has a British birth certificate and two British parents?

I've just been googling this, as I know people in this position. (Two generations born outside the UK.) The second generation can apply for British citizenship if they do so before the age of 18 and have lived in the UK with their parents for three years.

They may also be able to apply until aged 18 if the first generation lived in the UK for at least three years before they were born, haven't digested the rules in detail.

www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-british-parent/born-on-or-after-1-july-2006

If you're living outside the UK you could do with specialist advice relating to the jurisdiction you're in.