Life after Divorce 209
investment strategy? What type of investments do you tend to
favor? Do you believe in insurance? How important is money,
career and success to each of you? Do you now own, or plan in
the future to own, your own home? Where? How? (3) Retirement:
What age would you like to retire? What is your plan for your
retirement? (4) Business Planning: Do you have complementary
careers/schedules? Do you plan to work for yourself or others?
To Wed or Not to Wed? The Legal and Economic Issues. Shacking up
is no longer just a precursor to wedding bells; it now often becomes
a long-term alternative to marriage. Over the past decade, accord-
ing to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of unmarried couples
living together grew 72 percent to 5.5 million couples. And 1.1
million of those couples are over the age of forty-five.
Obviously, different folks are evaluating various factors and
coming to different conclusions with regard to the “To marry or
not to marry?” issue. So, now, as promised, here are some of the
legal and financial pluses and minuses of both arrangements, as
derived from several sources, including Money magazine.
If You Get Married, You...+ Are eligible for spousal employee benefits—including health
insurance.
+ May qualify for lower car insurance rates.
+ Can file negligence or malpractice suits if your spouse is
hurt or disabled.
+ Will not have to pay estate taxes on inheritance from your
spouse.
+ May double how much of the profits from the sale of your
principal residence are free from capital gains taxes ($500,000
if married vs. $250,000 for a single person).
+ Will probably qualify for your deceased spouse’s pension or
Social Security benefits.
− May have to pay the high cost of divorce if you break up.
− Will often face a cutoff of any remaining alimony payments
still due from the divorce settlement of a prior marriage.
− Will receive a lower social security benefit (in a dual-income
marriage).