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Marriage Verses Living Together

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Marriage Verses Living Together
Davella LeBlanc Maria Fidler ENGL 1301 July 14, 2013
Marriage verses Living Together I remember when my husband and I were dating and we both decided to move in with each other rather quickly. We both felt in order to really get to know one another; we had to see how compatible we both were. Because of this, in just a short three years, we were married but living together really proved to be a valuable lesson for the future. In today’s society many people are getting married and divorced at record rates which are really affecting people views psychologically when it comes to marriage vs. cohabitation; therefore, I plan on exploring both options to see how both of these options work. A marriage is a legally binding agreement that grants each partner a wider range of rights and responsibilities. Ending this type of relationship requires a legal procedure. Cohabitation is the act of living together without a legally recognized union. This allows individuals to part ways with less difficulty than if they were married. However, both kinds of couples do live together and therefore spend most of their time together. Married people and cohabiting people are in serious relationships, they don’t generally decide to cohabit with someone they are just casually dating. People who are married are extremely committed to one another but neither couple will be unsure of their relationship or in a relationship with someone they don’t know very well. Married or cohabiting couples don’t have to completely pool their resources; both kinds of couples do have a financial stake in the relationship. At the very least, both will pay half of the rent or mortgage on a house or apartment. This means that both people in both kinds of relationships have something tangible to lose should the relationship fail. Married and cohabiting people are in intimate relationships. This essentially always includes some sexual intimacy; if there is no sexual intimacy


Cited: Grover, Sam. "Similarities Between Cohabitation & Marriage | EHow." EHow. Demand Media, 15 June 2011. Web. 14 July 2013. Dye, Felicia, and Melissa Wiley. "What Are the Legal Differences between Marriage and Cohabitation?" WiseGeek. Conjecture, n.d. Web. 14 July 2013.
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