While marriage is a beautiful thing to have especially when you’re nearing your twilight, most seniors opt not to get married at all, not by personal choice but by considering the complications it may bring to their documentations and assets. As silly as it may sound, some seniors- and their daughters and sons, I presume- deem it beneficial to forego marriage and just live together to protect your assets. Of course, this can get a little offensive for the other half with lesser asset but like they say, love still prevails with or without hurt.
Understand that nowadays it is important to protect your individual and combined assets. Not getting married simply means simplifying things and it is almost always not personal. In some cases, it is beneficial for both parties especially if both have gone through divorce and their “beneficiary list” is long enough to confuse an insurance company. However, take note that “living together” has its own traps that may complicate things when you go away.
At some point, there will be “money talk”. Even for the simplest of things such as paying bills and opening joint accounts. It is best if you get it out of the way even before you move into the other person’s house. Good thing to remember is that in any partnership, there should be “house rules” for both parties. These are your limits and your rights, if possible, put it on paper. If writing it down right away isn’t possible, then grab a trusty video camera, hold today’s newspaper with dates showing and blab your “agreement” away. If you can do this together then that would be great.
Another tricky part of cohabitation is signing loans. It doesn’t take a married couple to co-sign a loan. Like in any other partnership, all you have to do is take yourselves to the company offering loan, armed with your proper documents and you’re on. This is not only applicable to huge loans by the way, getting your partner a supplementary credit card or an extension to any of your accounts is considered as co-signing or being held liable for the other person’s debts. Even if you have clearly indicated in any legal document that you are not to be held responsible for your partner’s debts, when you co-sign with her on loans, that will automatically make you indebted to the loan company thus affecting your credit standing.
Remember that one of the ideas why couples opt not to get married and just live under one roof is that it will be easier and less messy to end the relationship if it will not work out. With that said, you should also bear that in mind when it comes to financial planning and anything that involves your money.
