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Advantages of Live-in
Relationships Over Marriage |
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Marriage is an essential arrangement that ensures propagation of
human race and prevents societies from degenerating into chaos.
Marriages are crucial too
for providing a safe place supervised by adults where the
children can grow up into adults in a nurturing atmosphere.
Why has the institution of marriage been so successful? The
answer is that it caters to a primal human need. Man is
essentially a social animal. Life for us is a
long journey full of challenges and problems. We do not want to
wade through it alone, but crave for company and loyalty of
another individual who will
provide a shoulder to lean on and share some of our
responsibilities. Thus, our ancestors created the institution of
marriage in which two adults of opposite
sex formally tie the knot in a socially and legally accepted and
enduring bond that is meant to last an entire lifetime.
In the last few decades, though, this time-tested arrangement
has come under threat. Unbelievable as it may sound, marriage
has begun to lose its
importance and sanctity. People today ask: “Do we need to get
married at all when we can have everything that marriage offers
without formally tying the
knot?” There are many reasons for this. The most important one
is secular education and scientific temperament of people which
make them question
everything, including age-old social mores and customs. Women
have become independent socially and financially and see no
problem in living alone. As a
result, live-in relationships have become quite common.
Both marriages as well as live-in arrangements have their own
pros and cons, but the scale is still somewhat tilted in favour
of the former.
Live-In Relationships
These are today quite popular with the young crowd. The benefits
of live-in relationship are many. The foremost among these is
the freedom that you get.
You do not surrender any rights or accept any obligations. The
relationship lasts as long as both the partners are happy with
each other. There is an attitude
of “you scratch my back, I scratch yours and both of us enjoy
while it lasts.”
After some years it is natural for the partners to get bored
seeing the same face every morning. That is when the charm goes
out of the relationship and one
tends to look for a fresh relationship with some other
individual. In a live-in relationship, that is no problem. You
can any day just pack your bags and move
out, leaving behind just a thank-you card.
There are absolutely no legal hassles, financial complications
or complex negotiations for dividing assets and debts between
the partners. The arrangement
sounds like a dream come true. Live together, have physical
relations, and move out when bored. What can be more convenient
and gratifying? No wonder,
live-in relationships are getting more popular than ever.
However, there is a flip side too. Such relationships lack
commitment. When the chips are down, the arrangement usually
breaks down. If the partners have
children, the situation becomes more complex with respect to
their custody and responsibility for upbringing. Since the
relationship is informal, the two
individuals do not have much stake in its continuity and
whenever problems arise, they decide it is much easier to split
rather than make efforts to solve
them.
Marriages
The most important benefit of marriage is its social and legal
recognition. The society recognises and respects the
relationship and treats it as the only
“proper” way for a man and woman to share a single roof and rear
children. Marriage is protected by the law and both the partners
have their clearly defined
rights and obligations. If they want to split, there is a laid
down procedure that has to be followed. There are strict
provisions to take care of children’s
upbringing in case of parental divorce.
Another substantial benefit marriage offers to the couple is
emotional commitment and support. The partners demand loyalty
and fidelity from each other. In
return, they bare all their secrets to each other and share
their finances to buy assets for the family. There is no other
relationship that can match the
emotional support, social recognition and legal rights that a
marriage provides.
On the flip side, it takes a lot of money and effort to dissolve
a marriage because it is a very formal and water-tight
arrangement. One just cannot walk away
lightly. Lawyers have to be paid, family assets and debt have to
be equally divided and arrangements have to be made with respect
to the children. Marriage
does not offer personal freedom to partners as a live-in
relationship does.
About The Author
James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you would
like more information on how to get a quickie Divorce see
http://www.quickie-divorce.com
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