Stupid question about marriage

I am going to be honest. I don't really plan to get married necessarily but in the event since me and my fiance have been together for a long time now and have been engaged for like a zillion years haha, I am curious as to what changes legally and what not.... Anyway, I admit I don't know much about it. Seeing as I never believed in it in the past and neither my parents nor my grandparents got married. lol. My family doesn't really get married all that often.
What are the positives and negatives?
(basically what changes legally ect...)

I mean all around though to. If you are married are you happy with the choice?

I'm not married but I do want to get married. We are already committed to one another and our family so why not make it official? And SO wants me to have his last name.

Quoting JiLLiAN.:" I'm not married but I do want to get married. We are already committed to one another and our family so why not make it official? And SO wants me to have his last name."

My "man" and I are engaged lol. He asked me to marry him years ago when I was pregnant but we don't know how we feel about the stress of signing papers. I love the idea of the ceremony and being together ect... We don't cheat and we are great together. We have been together 4+ years now and we work awesome together it's just, idk if we both are ok with the stress of it. If that makes sense.
We have talked about it but not as much as we should I think lol.

too many pos/negs to list but yeah I love being married. the only women in my family who were ever married was my mom (technically still married but separated for the last 5yrs, married for 8 before) and me- going on 6yrs. its kinda like any relationship- good n bad but there's more involved. You can't just "break up" and move on there's paper filing, papers to serve, assets usually to divide, etc. I always knew I wanted to be married I'm kinda traditional in that sense and it's against the grain for my family  

For DH and I, nothing really changed when we got married. We were legally married at the courthouse in secret (with only my parents there) so that my son's father could sign over his rights and DH could adopt him. We had our official ceremony 6 months later. It doesn't feel any different actually being married...he's still my best friend and we're still in love a year later.

I am from a long line of happy marriages. Both sets of grandparents were married until separated by death and I was able to see what that kind f love looks like. I was able to see during the good times and the bad ( when my grandfather suffered from cancer) that was a special love and commitment. My parents have also been a wonderful example. In December they celebrate 40 years, and they've all been happy years. My husband and I just celebrated 11 years and I've never been happier. I am a huge fan of marriage, but the good or bad depends on who you marry and how you communicate with each other. When a couple gets married selfishness should go out the window.

I do things just to make my husband happy and he does the same for me. He is my number 1 and I am his. And we agreed in advance that divorce is not an option and we share a passionate kiss at least once a day. This makes for a happy marriage.  

Oh.... And after 11 years I can't list a single con. All pros in this house.  

Quoting Lizplustwo:" For DH and I, nothing really changed when we got married. We were legally married at the courthouse in ... [snip!] ... later. It doesn't feel any different actually being married...he's still my best friend and we're still in love a year later. "

See, this is how I feel it would go and so for us. I don't see much of a point really if that makes sense. The ceremony sounds adorable and I hear you get more taxes? We are already best friends as well so idk, everyone just keeps telling me that "everything changes". I guess I don't really get how it can change things...it is not like we would break up. We work amazing together :]

I love being married. I'm old-fashioned in a sense and I believe marriage is the most prolific way to express commitment to another person. There are also legal advantages to being married. In some states you can't acquire certain low income housing as a couple without being married (although this obviously isn't an issue for many couples because they don't need it to begin with and lots of states are slowly repealing these kinds of laws or improving their "common law marriage" legislation). It's also harder to get insurance through your partner unless you're legally married. There are actually lots of little things like this.

Being married definitely makes it easier for a couple to handle finances and such too. (At least for most people... My husband and I no longer have to split costs with anything like we did when we were dating and living together. We always had to decide whose name to put certain things under and had to divvy up who paid for what instead of using one account. Obviously unmarried couples can do the same but it's easier to handle after getting married.) It also enables you to access certain information regarding your partner (like if an accident were to happen and he's in the hospital but only relatives are allowed to visit). There are also tax breaks in certain areas for married couples.

Honestly there are tons of little advantages like this but I won't continue naming them because this post is long enough, lol. As for emotional advantages, I just love being so dedicated to my husband that we've legally signed a document saying we are officially together and plan on staying with one another until the day we die. There's something really romantic about that kind of commitment.It's not that I needed to be married in order to allow our relationship to flourish, I just wanted us to be married for the sake of making a commitment. I also ended up getting great insurance after we got married which I didn't have before. This has improved my life tenfold since I have epilepsy and my medicine is very, very expensive. I also didn't have to pay a single dime for prenatal care or the delivery of my son.

Quoting Raptor Jesus:" I love being married. I'm old-fashioned in a sense and I believe marriage is the most prolific way to ... [snip!] ... and my medicine is very, very expensive. I also didn't have to pay a single dime for prenatal care or the delivery of my son."

i already get insurence through him because Whole Foods supports gay couples ect... you just have to live together to get benifits through them. "Domestic partnership". :]
I hears of the tax thingy and the accident thing. I guess I just wasn't sure what else there could be. I had no idea some low income housing was only for married couples. I am curious, are there legal draw backs as well(not emotional ones)?

the only thing i know is shared property. everything that DH bought after we got married (even if it is only in his name) is mine and same goes with everything that i bought.

oh, and we get more money back for married filing jointly.

<blockquote><b>Quoting EpicThunderCat!:</b>" My "man" and I are engaged lol. He asked me to marry him years ago when I was pregnant but we don't ... [snip!] ... we both are ok with the stress of it. If that makes sense. We have talked about it but not as much as we should I think lol."</blockquote>



You could have a ceremony without signing the papers. Lots of people do it.

I'm married and I love it. I love having his last name, and I enjoy the title "wife". Thats just how I feel about it though lol. Legally, I havent benifitted from anything yet. I'm sure I will at some point, but I have only been married for 2 years. The thing that comes to mind, is he is my next of kin. If something happens to me he would be in control of the situation. Also I can get on his medical insurance, and dental through his work... Thats all that comes to mind for me.

What if my fiances credit is bad? Will it effect mine? Will it be harder to get a house ect... because as we are right now, I have great credit and his....not so much lol.

Quoting EpicThunderCat!:" What if my fiances credit is bad? Will it effect mine? Will it be harder to get a house ect... because as we are right now, I have great credit and his....not so much lol."

idk how houses are, but he couldn't put my name on the car bc my credit is smurf. they said we have to wait until we finish paying it off. it doesn't matter though, bc of the shared property law lol. i just wish i could put my name on there to build my credit back up.

Quoting VAR's Mommy:" idk how houses are, but he couldn't put my name on the car bc my credit is smurf. they said we have to ... [snip!] ... doesn't matter though, bc of the shared property law lol. i just wish i could put my name on there to build my credit back up."

Oh so you can just not mention your partner when buying something? That was my main concern with marriage. I don't want his credit effecting me ect... D:
Sounds selfish I am sure but the legal stuff, I am worried I don't know all of it haha.