Funny angle this thread is taking. My GF is kinda' creeped out by the whole marriage as a business contract thing. But that's just the way it is. What with building a new house and retiring in a few years, my attorney advised me that we proceed either with a partnership agreement or get married with pre-nups for us both, as we each have adult children and all that unromantic estate planning BS to deal with. As weird as it seems, at this stage in our lives, getting married would have little to do with our relationship and everything to do with our personal business and finance management. If we marry before I retire, she can join my health insurance coverage and save over $500 a month when she retires. That's a lot of fishing trips we can take during retirement. Ah, the things we do for love.