Being married gives one a lot more legal options and rights.
Where? Because it’s not like that anywhere I know of. At best you get some small tax breaks. Certainly no more rights or legal options other than those purely related to marriage. Like being able to get divorced.
I think the inheritance part is true, if your spouse dies and you have joint ownership of the home and bank accounts, they’re not being inherited, you already fully own them
You can do this without marriage, but you can’t do this for the purposes of tax avoidance… If you give your child joint ownership out of nowhere, you’ll need to explain why if the IRS starts asking questions. And there are valid answers, like if they work the family farm or business, it does make sense that they should gain ownership as their responsibility grows. Things can also be gifted for less tax obligations or put into a trust (and those rules are very wonky), but this is a simple traditional practice
But with marriage? You can claim “this is just how we do marriage, we have joint finances”, and that is an accepted cultural behavior in most places. You can do it immediately, and it offers legal protection as well… For things such as medical malpractice, only the negligent party is exposed, so you cut the maximum amount that can be collected to your combined ownership/2 - primary home and other basics
Granted, I think “but this way we can cheat the system and pay less taxes” is a terrible rationale for child marriage…
Where? Because it’s not like that anywhere I know of. At best you get some small tax breaks. Certainly no more rights or legal options other than those purely related to marriage. Like being able to get divorced.
Ever been married? Sure seems to grease a lot of legal wheels, makes life easier, like it’s the “default” position in life. That’s all I meant.
I think the inheritance part is true, if your spouse dies and you have joint ownership of the home and bank accounts, they’re not being inherited, you already fully own them
You can do this without marriage, but you can’t do this for the purposes of tax avoidance… If you give your child joint ownership out of nowhere, you’ll need to explain why if the IRS starts asking questions. And there are valid answers, like if they work the family farm or business, it does make sense that they should gain ownership as their responsibility grows. Things can also be gifted for less tax obligations or put into a trust (and those rules are very wonky), but this is a simple traditional practice
But with marriage? You can claim “this is just how we do marriage, we have joint finances”, and that is an accepted cultural behavior in most places. You can do it immediately, and it offers legal protection as well… For things such as medical malpractice, only the negligent party is exposed, so you cut the maximum amount that can be collected to your combined ownership/2 - primary home and other basics
Granted, I think “but this way we can cheat the system and pay less taxes” is a terrible rationale for child marriage…