I'm not anti-women at all. The women you describe are the ones I would go out with.

They don't have a choice. For all effective reasons, they are trapped. They made their bed, now they have to lie in it.

I just wanted an excuse to post the pic

So if the wife gets what she brought to the marriage/partnership...
and equally the husband gets what he brought to the marriage/partnership, who gets what they 'both' contributed during the marriage/partnership and in what share ?

and then of course who gets to cover the costs of any children ?

All marriages are designed to come to an end... the line, is

'til death do us part......'

That is the whole idea, it's a lifetime partnership of hearts and minds... body and soul.

It works for more people than it doesn't. And it is still true that married men live longer and married men have less morbidity (illness)

I have to ask... Why do you feel so strongly that marriage (everybody's not just when it's applied to you) is such a terrible thing?

Everything that you have said, points to the fact that you merely want to preserve all of your material possessions for yourself. There is nothing mentioned of;

Companionship, love, sex (contrary to popular media, married people have more sex, not less than singles) Somebody who knows you almost, if not better than you know yourself. A life partner, with whom you (more likely than not) choose to raise a family, and as you age, share the joys of grandchildren, and if you're very lucky great grandchildren.

It should be based relative to each individuals income. For example, if a joint income is $100K and one person earns $60K and the other earns $40K. Then it should be a 60/40 split of assets.

In actuality though, If the male earned substantially more, the wife would walk away from the marriage with substantially more that what she contributed.

A lot needs to be changed as far as child support is concerned and a good start would be to make it relative to after tax income and not before tax income. There are many fathers out there that after a divorce have been forced to move back in with their parents because after child support has been garnished, they just don't have enough money left over to live on.

The cost of children should be covered jointly based on the actual cost of raising them and not a predetermined approximation.

[QUOTE=Deancm;7724454]It should be based relative to each individuals income. For example, if a joint income is $100K and one person earns $60K and the other earns $40K. Then it should be a 60/40 split of assets.QUOTE]



Perhaps it's a good thing that you are against marriage and cohabitation - there are already far too many people married to partners who put themselves and their own material wants and needs before their own children and partners However, there are also many people who have made a SUCCESS of their relationships because they understand that a SUCCESSFUL relationship amongst other things, is built on understanding, sensitivity to each other's needs and wanting to share a life with someone else.

M

As people grow older people change. How can an intelligent person enter into a binding contract when the person they are marrying will be a completely different person in 40 years time?

Does it? Or do people just resign themsleves to the fact they are are married and just put up with it?

The figures you quote are from people that are now dying and got married over 40 years ago. Times, society and the traditional 'nuclear family' has changed. We will not know the actual figures for marriage today for another 40 or so years but signs are that this is no longer the case.

I don't think it's such a terrible thing. I just believe it is an idealistic aspiration that ultimately contradicts our natural human instincts. On top of this, of my friends that got married most are divorced and the ones that aren't are all having affairs. So that is proof enough that it doesn't work.

Yep, I don't want to be taken to the cleaners.

With people outside of the marriage.

You will never know another person to that degree. There will always be secrets.

All very nice in a perfect world. Just remember for every 2 couples, one will get divorced. That is a fact in our modern western society.

Personally, with relationships that I have had, I have been happier and achieved more when I was single. Relationships are just a constant source of a headache. As far as kids are concerned, I've got one and don't want anymore.

And when they get divorced it all comes tumbling down.

And if the wife doesn't work, but merely looks after the home and the children, cooking and cleaning, etc etc... ? She gets nothing ?

Sometimes I think you might have a small amount of intelligence -- and then you post a gem like this -- classic

What percentage of the married population is this based on
So, if most of my friends are happily married (though obviously none of them are ) and not having affairs (probably lies too ). It follows that this is proof that marriage does work

Gawd blimey ---- I give up.....

I'm not a great advocate of marriage - all depends of reasons for marrying. I was lucky enough to meet my soul mate. If he's not my soulmate in 10 years time or visa versa - then we've had a bloody good run and I was willing to take that chance for the wonderful 17 years we've had together so far

But you miss the point in your own argument when you say

"Just remember for every 2 couples, one will get divorced." You are also acknowledging that one will be successful. Furthermore, the use of stats is not as straightforward as it seems. Given that some people will divorce and remarry and therefore contribute to the divorce rate more than once it is arguable that is is greater than 50% of individuals who marry stay married.

That very often depends on how much time the couple spends together.

I agree, I reckon most people don't 'get' marriage until they meet their ideal partner. Then it makes sense. Having said that, I do know some people who got married for the sake of a fancy wedding.... they didn't think further ahead than that. Those are the marriages which seem to have a high divorce rate. Most people I know however, enter marriage with the intention of a lifelong partnership. Sometimes people or circumstances change and these couples split up but their marriages weren't a failure, they were good while they lasted.

And also there is the notion of unpaid work which constitutes a lot of value, and/or allows a partner to bring back the bacon.

I was discussing the notion ages ago of how men 'get taken to the cleaners' and some people I know were actually saying this does not always literally happen. That a lot of courts in some cases have ruled that a man has put himself at an unfair disadvantage when giving assets to his wife.

It's also interesting though when women who should know better do talk in terms of taking a 'man to the cleaners' - been hinted before on this forum. Perhaps they are one of the reasons why a man strayed..

I think celebrity divorce does not help..