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Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

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231–240 of 266 posts

Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When my wife and I married we made a profit on our wedding but we set a reasonable budget for it.

I would love to know how you made a profit on it. (That's not a snarky question at all - I have a child likely to get married next year, and I would genuinely like to know.)

You could make a profit by reduced tax liability.

Get married in a courthouse around the end of the year, before the year of your wedding. The following year, have your ceremony. You extend your Married Filing Jointly status to the previous year you were going to originally take credit for it.

That's my best guess though, and depends on your incomes.

Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#232
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage_in_the_Uni... , particularly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage_in_the_Uni... ), California explicitly doesn't allow common-law marriages (to which you seem implicitly to be referring); and, anyway, it seems that a common-law marriage must be explicitly consented to, rather than being a state that develops involuntarily (based o…

there's a lawyer filing a case soon for a woman that lived with her fiance for over 10 years...never married, and they had a quid pro quo sexual relationship...she paid most bills, no rent though, and lived/appeared as if married to him everywhere, but were not in fact married. The lawyer pursuing it says this type of case is almost always ruled in favor of 'common law' marriage. She got shafted by him for another wo…

> This is from a lawyer. Are you a lawyer by chance?

I am not, and my legal source on this matter is Wikipedia, so, well, there you go.

However, I do note that there is a difference between a lawyer making an argument, and the content of that argument being established law. If the case is decided in the woman's favour (and if it is in a California jurisdiction!), then obviously I am wrong; but, until then, I don't think that it is so clear that I am.

Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#233
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage_in_the_Uni... , particularly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage_in_the_Uni... ), California explicitly doesn't allow common-law marriages (to which you seem implicitly to be referring); and, anyway, it seems that a common-law marriage must be explicitly consented to, rather than being a state that develops involuntarily (based o…

there's a lawyer filing a case soon for a woman that lived with her fiance for over 10 years...never married, and they had a quid pro quo sexual relationship...she paid most bills, no rent though, and lived/appeared as if married to him everywhere, but were not in fact married. The lawyer pursuing it says this type of case is almost always ruled in favor of 'common law' marriage. She got shafted by him for another wo…

They met two out of four of the tests for common law marriage. So what are you saying? We should be surprised that cohabitating couples who have a reputation of being married are common law married?

Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#234
post #198
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The credit score remark is a reference to losing half your assets and/or taking on your partners debt if things go wrong.

That assumes you are marrying someone with zero resources.

Most people in the US have less than $10000 in savings.

Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we’ve been saving for two years to have a wedding, and we’re planning a relatively cheap one The second part here is in conflict with the first part...

An upper middle-class wedding on the coasts at any venue goes for a minimum of 30k. A really cheap wedding is just having in your back yard with a keg, but I don't think the OP is talking about that. A nice wedding with all your college buddies, looking at 100k.

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Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unintended pregnancy in US teens has consistently dropped by quite a bit [1], and I have to imagine that has reduced the number of "shotgun weddings" at a young age. That said, the number of unintended pregnancies by people at and below the poverty line has actually risen somehow. [1] https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/unintended-pregnancy-u...

> somehow Note that access to reproductive care continues to be impeded on in places like Utah and Texas - see the recent filibuster in Texas by Wendy Davis, for instance, or Utah's "abstinence-only" school curriculum. It is not usually middle class families hurt by policies like these (e.g. Utah's laws assume the parents will deal with sex ed, and by and large, middle class families do just that). Instead, abortion/…

[deleted]

Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#237
post #150

They really buried the lede. There are two things happening here that can arguably be traced to one cause: Educated millennials apparently see marriage as something you do _after_ you've finished establishing yourself. It is a goal, not a given. Uneducated millennials apparently have the _same_ point of view, but they aren't established and therefore they aren't getting married. Given that marriage often means you en…

Unintended pregnancy in US teens has consistently dropped by quite a bit [1], and I have to imagine that has reduced the number of "shotgun weddings" at a young age. That said, the number of unintended pregnancies by people at and below the poverty line has actually risen somehow. [1] https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/unintended-pregnancy-u...

The concerted effort to shut down Planned Parenthood, probably.

When you remove and important and often sole provider of family planning, the planning part goes astray.

My biggest question is who profits from eliminating places like that? I don't buy that it's just about abortion and religion (and therefore politics, in the US.)

Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#238
post #150

They really buried the lede. There are two things happening here that can arguably be traced to one cause: Educated millennials apparently see marriage as something you do _after_ you've finished establishing yourself. It is a goal, not a given. Uneducated millennials apparently have the _same_ point of view, but they aren't established and therefore they aren't getting married. Given that marriage often means you en…

Unintended pregnancy in US teens has consistently dropped by quite a bit [1], and I have to imagine that has reduced the number of "shotgun weddings" at a young age. That said, the number of unintended pregnancies by people at and below the poverty line has actually risen somehow. [1] https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/unintended-pregnancy-u...

Pregnancy can still be a meal-ticket in some states. Particularly if there is a definite father that it can be pinned on.

Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#239
post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congratulations on finding yourselves so young and more importantly, being in a position where you were both able to grow with one and other. :) I'm rather envious. But like the OP above you mentioned, I wasn't in a position where I could or should be committing to life with some one. I guess that's where today's culture is a lot more forgiving and not forcing our generation to adhere to traditional social roles. I c…

I can't say our first few years of marriage were easy by any stretch of the definition. We struggled with a variety of issues - sudden death of her father, back to back deployments (her and I) and the general stresses of marriage and the military. The first 2 - 3 years were the most difficult but once she decided to separate marriage became easier. Then I separated and marriage was blissful - now that I work from hom…

Thank you for your kind words :). I appologise if I implies in any part that your marriage would have been easy, I'm envious... but I'm not naive! :D

My comment about my own perception was being in a position where I tried, relentlessly, to make relationships work with several different people where in hindsight it was clear neither I or my then partner where in a position where we could.

It took many years before I got to the place where I am at today. I'm now comfortable with being alone but also in a position where I'd be capable of truly looking after another and respecting boundaries. They were not always something I managed at all well.

If I can ask, "but once she decided to separate marriage became easier. Then I separated and marriage was blissful - " - you separated marriage?

Or did you mean your wife left the Military and then you followed suit?

Re: Millennials Are Causing the U.S. Divorce Rate to Plummet

#240
post #150

They really buried the lede. There are two things happening here that can arguably be traced to one cause: Educated millennials apparently see marriage as something you do _after_ you've finished establishing yourself. It is a goal, not a given. Uneducated millennials apparently have the _same_ point of view, but they aren't established and therefore they aren't getting married. Given that marriage often means you en…

I'd really like to see some discussion of the numbers because on the surface a declining divorce rate sounds positive, but depending on other trends it might not be.

If these are all true:

1- Unmarried couples with children are more likely to separate than married couples (this is probably true)

2- Couples with less means have become less likely to marry (this is confirmed)

3- Couples with less means are having children at around the same rate that they used to (not sure on this one)

Then it suggests that fewer low income children may grow up in stable two-parent households, which is not progress at all, it means a stable family life is becoming a privilege reserved only for the upper class.

Which would make a certain amount of sense in the context of long-term inflation and stagnant wages, there's a clear trend in the US of middle class privileges slipping away from a growing segment of the population.

We should have seen this coming -- financial hardship has been the #1 cause of divorce for a long time.

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