They're not marrying much now.

That would work Frank,

The difficulties would mostly seem to lie with the Bar Associations, aided and abetted by many theologists who may or may not have a pecuniary interest in what is essesentially a very personal situation.

This little observation does not reflect badly upon our friend Msgr. H. or my personal friend Atty.C. . They are persons who are trying to help other persons that are caught up in a system that is not of their own making That they get paid for their services is, at best, only fair. It is the system that necessitates their services that we should be concerned with.

In one case the system is the Roman Catholic Church, In the other it is the American Bar Association. It's going to take a whole bunch of aware people to force a change in those well entrenched systems.

in most cases when a woman thinks of a wedding she thinks of all the hoopla that goes with it....now a days the furthest thing from anyones mind is what kind of ceremony it will be.

And when it does come down to having a ceremony here is my opinion...for those of you that get a chuckle out of my posts.....

It doesn't matter what religion you are when you tie the knot....if your heart is not in it....if the philosophical truth that you follow is not in your heart....you may as well forget the ceremony and just opt to spend $15,000 or better to feed a bunch of people just so the two of you can make it official to all of them that you are now sleeping together!!!! Without a sacred ceremony it means nothing!!!!

I just heard a story recently, about a couple who had lived together for thirty years, without being married. The man became ill. The man's daughter (from a first marriage) had power of attorney. The woman had no say in how the man was to be treated medically, or, when he died, the funeral arrangements.

After the man died, the daughter took off with all the man's money, like her father's 30 year relationship with the woman had never existed.

I was very suspicious that the daughter had the power of attorney. If the couple had been married, even if the man left everything to his daughter in his will, the woman would still have been entitled to a portion of the man's estate.

Frank Frank Frank

I am simply saying that a marriage ceremony doesn't mean anything unless you believe in it. And that everyone is better off just living together as you do, because no one really thinks about the ceremonies anymore!!! Which makes the whole thing pointless!!!! Thats why I said you may as well just spend money on the reception and just announce that you are officially together!!!
If ceremony was important then everyone would be at the altar and their marriages would last. And I do agree that their are millions of people who don't have a marriage license who have been successfull in staying together than those who do have one.

Frank- You need to do one or the other: Get married, or make legal arrangements. The thing that I question though, was the motivation of the man. The woman involved was neither a very old lady, nor incompetent, which would be a valid reason for giving the power of attorney to the daughter.

What I question is why the woman (who is a business person in her own right), would stay with a man for three decades, with no legal protection. If an older couple marry, there needs to be protection for the children of the first marriages. But for goodness sakes, these people were together for thirty years!

I think the problem of family members doing what this woman did is vastly overdone. Sure there are scumbags around -- but for the most part, folks love their relatives and don't soil their memory when they die with a money grab.

Certainly there are ways other than marriage to protect property -- and, if I may, "protecting property" is a piss poor reason for getting married.