Is your marriage worth the piece of paper its written on? With 31 percent of new born babies being born to unwed mothers, Professor Tom Martin explains the legal implications and benefits of marriage versus cohabitation on this episode of The Massachusetts School of Law’s A Point of Law.

Educational Video from The Massachusetts School of Law.

The following is a rough transcript of the above video, “The Benefits of Marriage”. It was downloaded via YouTube transcriptions.

after the census in the year two thousand
the united states bureau of the census reported
the astonishing statistic that thirty
one percent of american babies are now being
born to
unmarried mothers
even more
astonishing
is the fact that many of these mothers are
living in long term loving relationships
with men who they nevertheless choose not
to marry
this is a show about
unmarried
cohabitation
marriage brings you
legal benefits
which cohabitants don’t get
so what are these people
missing out on
by cohabiting without marriage
first of all
divorce
it may seem paradoxical to describe divorce
as one of the benefits of marriage
but divorce is just the
outward manifestation
of the underlying rule
that you can’t walk away from a marriage as you can
from a cohabitant relationship
to break up a marriage requires a supervised
process called divorce
in which the needs of both parties in the future
are taken into account
cohabitant relationships can break up with
no responsibility on the part of either partner
for the other in the future
second next-of-kin status
when you marry you become your spouse’s next-of-kin
this can be important especially at the
hospital
next-of-kin
can consent to medical procedures in emergencies
can authorize autopsies
consent to organ transplantation’s
may have special visiting rights and after
death can direct the disposition of the remains
of the diseased spouse
if for example there is a question
whether there is to be a religious funeral or
not
the next-of-kin has the say
a cohabitant is just a friend
who does not have those legal rights
next spousal testimonial privileges
in all american states there are two rules of evidence
that protect spouses
from having to testify against the
other spouse in a criminal proceeding
except one involving violence towards the
spouse and the seconds is one which protect spouses
against having to reveal confidential communications
between
a husband and wife
cohabitants have no such rights
very important are inheritance rights
in all american states
the surviving spouse has a right to inherit
from the deceased spouses estate
and that’s true no matter what he put in his
will and I use the word he advisedly because
in america
women tend to outlive their husbands
and husband’s tend to have most of the money
so in practice
this becomes
in most cases the right of a widow
not to be rendered penniless
in her old age
because she will be able to inherit
a specified amount from the estate of
her deceased husband
and again no matter
what he wanted she has that right cohabitants
don’t have it
deceased cohabitant can leave the other cohabitant
without a penny
and there is no protection
comparable to that which is available to
married couples
survivorship rights
you can’t be somebody’s widow if you were
never his wife
and social security benefits and insurance
payments and so forth may depend upon
the status of marriage at the time of death
again married people will have these rights
cohabitants will not
finally and this may be most familiar there’s
the joint tax return
heterosexual married couples are the only
individual taxpayers in america who get
to elect how they will be taxed
add up your taxes if paying separately add
up your taxes if paying jointly and
see which is lower and pay the lower amount it’s perfectly
legal and only married couples can do it
if you ask married if you ask cohabitants
why they don’t marry typically they will say
well
we love each other and we take care of each
other and that piece of paper won’t make any
difference
that is profoundly wrong
that piece of paper does make a big
difference