Because as messed up as this may sound, what can the title of boyfriend or girlfriend get you? Nothing. Nothing legally. Because like I said, you can't make any decisions. A marriage is a legally binding contract. That's why when you get a divorce, it has to go through the proper channels. It's a whole legal process. There's assets, there's so many things that go into it. But when you're just in a relationship, you could just walk away
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 4:41
I don't know. I'm just throwing that out there. The option basically is wide open and not look down upon society, but we we have chosen otherwise. And I kind of lost my train of thought for where I am. But yeah. So I don't really believe in the single until being married
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKaye · 4:34
But the truth of the matter is, neither one of you have committed to this thing. I know you all went, quote unquote, exclusive. You all now go together. You go steady. But what are those titles really mean? Nothing. And so that's just the reality of it. And so if you're dating a person, you're getting to know that person. Let it be that until you guys decide to take that next step
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Luce Fonrose
@ilovelucee · 1:50
Now, I'm at the point where it's half and half, probably leaning towards more so marriage. But when you said there are some people that are just after the marriage, I agree. That is an issue. That is an issue because at the end of the day, it should be about the person, not that title
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 2:28
So if you are going to say, I'm either going to be single or I'm going to be married or clearly on my way to it, that's okay. If you're going to say, well, listen, I have a timeline to your potential partner, I have a timeline in terms of how long I want to date before I get there, that's okay
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 4:38
And so, like I said, that's from the legal standpoint, that's from a legal standpoint. So people can call each other husbands and wives all day long. I can't say you all didn't make a covenant with each other. So I can't say that you all not husband and wife in the spiritual sense, but in the legal sense, you are not recognized as being anything of the sort. So spot on. Says, this was good
Andrea Piggue
@Andrea_Speaks · 5:00
So now this woman that he's been living with and he made a life with, now she's forced to make a new life by herself with half of the income. That ain't cool. That's just not cool. But if they would have went ahead and got married, the children wouldn't have been able to touch anything. The bank account, the life insurance policies, the house, the cars
Andrea Piggue
@Andrea_Speaks · 4:57
And I know a lot of people don't like to look at marriage as a business, but in a way, it is a business contract. In a way, it is. And so you have to go through the steps to be able to end that contract. And so this is a really good topic. It's something that a lot of people feel a lot of different ways about. Me, personally, if I'm not married to somebody, then I'm still single
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 0:32
Yeah. So, just curious for everybody who defines either one of the two, what would you define my situation as? You can look at the other two comments. So some of they went through some legal characteristics we also do share as well. I won't go into detail of which ones, but if you ask me, I'll be willing to share. But which would you define me as of the two, if not something in between? Just curious
Andrea Piggue
@Andrea_Speaks · 3:39
There are a lot of places that when they ask you your marital status, it'll say single, separated, divorced, or married, right? I guess that's something, because you could be separated before you get divorced. But to me, they still married. Like, you still married until you divorced, and you still single until you married. It's just that black and white for me, there is no in between
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 3:08
And technically, if they wanted to throw legal terms in there, they said, I think seven or eight years is what is it? I forgot. If I can google it. Give me 1 second. I think the two other ones, one had mentioned common law, which has been more than ten years for that, and Cohabitants, which is another legal designation. Again, legally, there are at least two others legally in between single and married
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 0:30
It's. And just to add with the legal things, I think we went through common law, cohabitants the third one is civil union. I don't know if civil union just relates to gay individuals, but I think legally it may not. So that's three legal definition designations in between single Americans. Just trying to start from the throw all things out there, that's all
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:55
We've never officially put paperwork stating that I will get my kids every other weekend and I've never paid child support, nothing like that. So the legal stuff has never really applied to me that I needed to be concerned with. So I was raised by a mom who was not married. She's actually going to be married for the first time in her life, and it instilled in me some values on what I see of marriage. I actually only have one friend who is married
Luce Fonrose
@ilovelucee · 4:41
And that's not to downplay you or anybody that's in that situation, because like I said, everybody should do what works for them, period. If you feel like you're not the type of person that wants to get married, if you feel like that's going to change the nature of the relationship, if you feel like that's not for you, that is fine. And like you said, too, what the divorce rate is about 50%
Andrea Piggue
@Andrea_Speaks · 3:20
But I would just encourage you to make sure that if you're not going to get married, marriage isn't something that either one of you want to do. Then I would suggest that you get a lawyer and make sure that the legalities are taken care of so that you both aren't in a good position if something legally happens. And that's my thing. But I hope that you understand that for me, this was just dialogue
Moe Johnson
@NeophyteSavant · 4:58
The fact that they're married, still legally married, he can have the cops tell every last one of us to get up out of that house, to get up out of there, and he go up in there and do what he wanted, have his way. Because of that legal contract, they're still married. So that's a really good point. And then the knucklehead that she ended up being with after she been separated, she'd been with this knucklehead almost 20 years
Rebel Drace
@itsmeRebelDrace · 2:47
Hi Lucy. I totally agree with you and it is such a beautiful thought, actually, you know, to protect your rights. And since I believe if the relationship is committed, I think there is no harm in, you know, just getting married and get it all legalized because it might give you certain rights, which we do not get if we're boyfriend girlfriends or your fiance or it's like wages