Broughton 1

Julia Broughton

William Loudermilk

English 1201 Online

24 March 2019

To Wed or Not to Wed?

Marriage used to mean a great deal to many young couples in America. It meant sharing

a life and children together. It represented a covenant, a promise to support and love one another

through the many storms of life. Today, an increasing number of young Americans are choosing

to stray off that well-walked path of love and commitment. In fact, the percentage of Americans

who are married has dropped from 72% in 1960 to 51% today (Cohn et al.). Cohabitation is on

the rise, and marriage is on the decline. The tragedy of this trend is that many young people are

missing out on the wonderful things that only a loving marriage can provide. Despite the

growing belief that marriage has become obsolete, this type of union is still worth considering

for its many legal, financial, and health benefits. Marriage also provides children with better

home lives.

For the purposes of this paper, marriage is defined as a union between a man and a

woman. This is also referred to as traditional marriage, which has been done by millions of

people for several millennia. Therefore, it has been written about, discussed, and researched the

most, making it the best topic for research. Some of the sources used in this paper are studies and

research published a decade or more ago, but they are still relevant. Human relationships are not

like technology; they do not drastically change with each passing year.

There are many legal benefits of being married. In the case of a medical emergency, a

married partner has the status of “next-of-kin”. This “next-of kin” status means that spouses are
 Broughton 2

the first ones to be able to see their incapacitated loved one, and one of the few people who are

allowed to be with that person in a hospital ICU or visit during highly restricted hospital hours.

(Jacobson). A cohabiting partner does not have this right under these circumstances because they

are not recognized by law to be related to the patient in any way, even if they have lived with the

patient for several years. If the doctor needs to confer with someone about a medical decision,

the spouse is the first person they will go to. This is because a married person is seen as a

“conservator”, meaning they can make medical decisions for their spouse if they are unconscious

or have some other type of medical issue that makes them incapable of making decisions

(“Marriage Rights”). Spouses can also sue for wrongful death if they believe their spouse has

died at the hands of another person, another legal benefit a cohabitating partner does not have.

(“Marriage Rights”).

There are additional legal benefits that married couples enjoy that also allow them to save

money. The United States government gives married couples exclusive tax benefits, often called

a “marital tax deduction”, which is essentially a tax exemption (Jacobson). This tax exemption

applies for gift taxes and estate taxes. Gift taxes occur when a person gives someone else a gift

that is worth a substantial amount of money. Normally, when such a transaction occurs, the gift-

giver has to pay a tax on their gift. However, when a married couple give each other gifts, they

get an exemption, meaning they do not have to pay the gift tax. The same goes for estate taxes.

These type of taxes occur when a person transfers their property, whether land or other assets, to

another person. Married couples are not subject to this tax (Jacobson). The estate tax exemption

is especially beneficial if one spouse dies. The surviving spouse inherits all the property they left

behind, even if the deceased spouse left behind no will. They do not have to pay any sort of gift

or estate tax (“Marriage Rights”). Cohabiting couples are excluded from this benefit because
 Broughton 3

they are not legally bound to each other in any way (Ashford). The Internal Revenue Service, or

IRS, treats a married couple as a single unit. When they are transferring property to each other, it

is technically not going to any outside source. Cohabitating couples on the other hand, are treated

as two separate units living together. Therefore, if one partner wants to bestow property or assets

to another, it is going outside the unit, meaning a gift or estate tax has to be paid (Jacobson).

Married couples can also share an Individual Retirement Account, or IRA between them.

If one spouse works and the other does not, the working spouse can put some of their retirement

money provided by their employer into a separate account for their non-working spouse. This

method is a great way for couples to support each other financially (“Marriage Rights”). In the

event that one spouse dies, the surviving spouse inherits all the money saved in their deceased

spouse’s account, tax free. The surviving spouse can keep all the money and allow it to grow

with interest, giving them a sense of financial stability amid their time of loss (Ashford). If the

surviving spouse has their own IRA, they can roll over their deceased loved one's IRA into their

own. However, the ability to inherit an IRA belongs to a spouse; no other romantic partnership

allows this (Jacobson). The law makes it clear that marriage offers certain legal benefits that

cannot be experienced by any other type of romantic union.

There are also some women who believe that marriage takes away their freedom. They

believe that once they marry, they lose their power and are at the mercy of their husbands. While

this may be true in some instances, this is not true for all marriages. I will show a real life

example of how marriage actually had the potential to save a woman from financial ruin, rather

than deprive her of her independence. For privacy purposes, the woman in this story will be

known as Mary and the man as John. Mary had been living with John for over twenty years. The

problem with this living arrangement was that John was still married. He and his estranged wife
 Broughton 4

had not seen each other for decades, but he had not gotten around to divorcing her. John had

been in bad health for a couple of years, and recently, he suffered a serious stroke and was

rendered unconscious in the ICU for weeks. It looked likely that he would die. His unmarried

partner, Mary, was not allowed to see him or make medical decisions for him, even though she

had been the one living with him and taking care of him for the past twenty years. Instead, John’s

estranged wife and children, who had wanted nothing to do with him up to this point, made all

the medical decisions for him and would have decided the distribution of his estate in the event

that he died. Because Mary had been living in his house for several years, she had no property

under her name. Mary was powerless to help herself if John died because as his cohabitating

partner rather than his wife, she had no legal rights to the property he left behind. Thankfully,

John recovered. If he hadn’t, his estranged wife and children would have inherited everything

and could have legally evicted Mary from the house. She would have been destitute. This story

sounds like an extreme case, but the reality is, it happens more often than most people think.

Finances have a significant effect on a person's life, and there is much evidence to show

that married couples enjoy numerous financial benefits if they stay married. Personal finance

journalist Kate Ashford has much to say about this topic. She writes that unlike a cohabiting

couple, married couples can save on health insurance. They can either share a plan or pay for one

that includes both spouses. Both ways are cheaper compared to a single person's health

insurance. This is especially useful to have when one spouse is self-employed and does not have

health insurance through an employer, or is not employed at all. Ashford also notes that when a

married couple is looking to buy a home, they have a much better chance of obtaining a

mortgage than a cohabitating couple. The reason for this is quite simple. Couples who are

married usually have a combined income and what Ashford calls “a legal reason to stay
 Broughton 5

together”, so banks and mortgage lenders are more likely to give them a loan. They may even

require a lower down payment than they would of a cohabiting couple. Married couples also

have the ability to share Social Security benefits. Social Security is money given by government,

usually to retired or disabled workers (“Marriage Rights’). If one spouse works and the other

stays at home, the stay-at-home spouse can receive their working spouses’ Social Security

money as well. However, as a general rule, the spouse has to be at least 62 years old or providing

for a child 16 years old or younger to begin taking benefits (Jacobson). Those who have a

military spouse can also receive and live off of their partner’s veteran and disability benefits.

This is useful for receiving free medical care, education, or obtaining certain loans (“Marriage

Rights”). The various financial benefits of married couples save them valuable money and

provide them better financial security.

A major benefit of a lasting marriage is that it leads to greater wealth for married people,

individually and as a couple. Allison Linn, an economy and personal finance journalist, reports

that “people who got and stayed married each had about double the wealth of single people who

never married.” and that “[t]ogether, the couple's wealth was four times that of a single person's.”

The Census Bureau performed a survey in 2010 and found that for married couples between the

ages of 55 and 64, their average net worth was $261,405. Split evenly down the middle that

would be $130,702.5 of net worth for each spouse. Compare that to a single man running a

household, whose average net worth is $71,428, or a single woman running a household with an

average net worth of $39,043 (Linn). One main reason that this wealth increase occurs is that

married couples can take advantage of what is called “economies of scale.” Because they are two

people living together instead of one person living alone, they can buy products at a cheaper

price than a single individual paying for just themselves (Linn). For example, a married couple
 Broughton 6

only has to buy one dishwasher, pay one electric bill, and pay for one house or apartment.

Although economies of scale is used by cohabitating couples as well, this strategy of living does

not have as significant of an impact on their finances as a married couple’s. Why is this so? As

research scientist Jay Zagorsky of The Ohio State University puts it, “many cohabiting couples

may not yet have committed to the idea that they will be together forever,” so “they aren't

combining sources as significantly as married couples” (Linn). Sharing not only finances, but

household responsibilities, allows a married couple to save money and generate wealth at a faster

pace than their unmarried counterparts (Linn). The “working partnership” between a wife and

husband allows for each person to be more productive at work. They can share household tasks,

alleviating the stress of having to take care of everything themselves. Married couples also tend

to lead more established lives, which causes the man to have fewer absences from work and

focus more on making money to provide for his family (Ribar 19). The relationship of marriage

also initiates a more savings-oriented attitude in couples than unmarried people or cohabiting

couples. Joel Schwartz gives a plausible explanation for this: marriage encourages certain

activities associated with married life, such as purchasing a home, saving for a child's education,

and buying quality furniture to entertain guests. He aptly summarizes the ability of a married

couple to save more and earn more with the observation that they are more likely to “pool

money, labor, and time…thereby creat[ing] far more opportunities for building wealth.”

Married couples, on average, have also been shown to experience better health than their

unmarried counterparts. According to a report published by The Nation's Health, an American

public health magazine, those who are married have reduced risks of developing a form of heart

disease or having a stroke compared to those who are single, divorced, and widowed. The study

was done between the years 1963 and 2015. This evidence was not exclusive to North American
 Broughton 7

married couples, as studies on married couples from Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and

Asia were also accounted for (Krisberg). Married couples are also not as likely to catch

pneumonia, develop cancer or have to go in for surgery (Parker-Pope). In 2005, Joel Schwartz

published a comprehensive essay going over the various health benefits of marriage. It was based

on a multitude of studies done in the 1990s and early 2000s. He reported that generally, married

couples tend to live longer. He also writes that in the nineties, two scientists, Lee A. Lillard and

Linda J. Waite, did a study that revealed nearly 90% of middle-aged married men live to reach

the age of 65, compared to only 60% of unmarried men. This life extension also affected women,

although the difference between married and unmarried was less substantial, with 90% of

married middle-aged women reaching the age of 64 and about 80% of their unmarried

counterparts doing so. Schwartz reports another study performed in the nineties that found the

unmarried population had higher mortality rates. Unmarried women had a 50% higher rate of

mortality compared to married women, and unmarried men had a 250% higher rate of mortality

compared to married men. The disparity between the two numbers is based on the fact that single

women do not engage in as much risky activity as single men. A strong, stable marriage also

augments a person's emotional health. Schwartz notes that marriage provides a sense of purpose

and meaning for an individual because as he quotes social scientist Linda Waite, they know that

“their partner's well-being depends on them.” He also notes that the economic advantages of a

lasting marriage also contribute greatly to better health, especially among married women.

In response to the vast amount of evidence and research revealing how a lasting marriage

enhances a person's finances and wellbeing, many are offering an explanation as to why married

couples experience such prosperity. These skeptics of marriage believe that something called the

“selection effect” is at play. This “selection effect” states that the reason why married couples
 Broughton 8

have more wealth and are healthier is because wealthier and healthier people marry in the first

place (Waite et al. 51). Proponents of this idea argue that marriage is worth the effort only for a

select few. There are some merits to this viewpoint. It is true that people like to be financially

stable before they marry (Linn). It also makes sense that a person worried about their health

would not want to burden another person, especially someone they love, with their personal

issues. However, this “selection effect” does not fully explain the prosperity of married couples.

A study done by economist Robert Schoeni showed that on average, married men with only high

school diplomas earned just as much as their unmarried college graduate counterparts (Schwartz

46). In addition, studies also show that less than 50% percent of the “earnings advantage” of a

married man is related to the fact that men who make more money marry at higher frequencies

(Schwartz 46). This means that a majority of married men who do earn more money than their

single counterparts do not do so because they were wealthier to begin with. Marriage appears to

give men greater reasons to be productive and keep a good job since they know there are people

who depend on him to provide for them (Schwartz 47). Many wives like to work as well, but as

Pamela Smock, the director of the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan

discovered, “a surprising number of…women also report wanting the man to have the type of job

that makes him the primary breadwinner” (Linn). It is safe to say that marriage often changes

people's priorities and lifestyles in a way that causes them to think not only of themselves but

other people, leading to a more meaningful life. The selection effect argues that marriage

benefits only a few, but it is clear after looking at all the evidence that marriage has the potential

to benefit anyone and any couple.

The “selection effect” has been used to downplay the health benefits of marriage as well.

However, there is a reason why married couples generally live healthier lives. When a person
 Broughton 9

marries, they tend to want to “adopt a healthier way of living”, which would, of course, lead to

better overall health (Waite et al. 52). This is true even when a married person's health in early

adulthood before their marriage is taken into account. Once they marry, their “mortality risk,” or

chance of dying while in a hospital, is significantly lower (Schwartz 47). This is especially true

for men. In general, marriage causes men to behave more responsibly and make wiser decisions

concerning their lifestyle choices; they tend to “settle down” after marriage (Waite et al. 52). For

example, most married men do not drink as frequently as their single counterparts. It has been

proven time and again that consuming too much alcohol causes a person to act recklessly and

engage in behavior that endangers themselves, such as getting in a heated bar fight or driving

way over the speed limit (Waite et al. 54). However, when men marry, they usually change their

behavior drastically (Schwartz 47). In fact, a survey done and revealed that one out of four

married men reported abstaining from alcohol, compared to one out of six single men (Waite et

al. 53). Wives also play a major role in keeping their husbands healthy. In a marriage, the wife is

more likely to monitor their husband's health, point out any unhealthy habits their husbands

have, and make sure they eat a balanced diet (Schwartz 47). Of course, this can apply for

husbands watching out for their wives as well. Couples in a loving marriage know that they have

a responsibility to take care of each other, and they do not want to develop bad habits that will

burden their spouse.

Spouses are not the only ones to benefit from a committed marriage; their children are

also positively affected by such a relationship. There is much evidence to show that children of

married parents grow up in a more stable and healthy home environment. To begin with, most

children of married parents get two times the parental care, meaning two adults are watching

over them instead of just one. Therefore, these children have greater support growing up, since
 Broughton 10

they have two parents to turn to if they need help in any way (Ribar 15). On the other hand,

children whose parents aren't married are two times more likely to drop out of school, and they

have a harder time finding a job after their schooling (Ooms). Children in married-parent

families are on average, better off economically. The average annual income of a single-mother

or cohabiting household were 37 % and 61% of a married household, respectively (Ribar 17). In

addition, the chances of children in single-parent or cohabiting families living in poverty are

much higher compared to children growing

up in two-parent, married families

(Manning 54). This poverty is often

perpetuated because girls from single

families are more likely to have a child out

of wedlock (Schwartz 47) . Figure 1 on the

left is from the Heritage Foundation. It

shows how the number of children living

in poverty would significantly decrease if

the number of single-parent families was at

the same level they were in 1960. Fewer

Fig. 1. This chart illustrates the role marriage plays in
reducing child poverty (Rector et al). than 12% of children lived in single-parent

families in 1960. By 2000, that number had increased to 27.6% (Rector et al.). Researchers found

that even when taxes, social assistance benefits, work expenses, and family size were taken into

account, single-mother households still brought in only 55% of the average annual income of a

two parent married household, and cohabiting households, 64%. This economic disparity has

been shown to be true not just in the United States, but other countries as well (Ribar 17).
 Broughton 11

Over the years, more evidence has been put out revealing that family stability, or the lack

thereof, significantly affects a child’s wellbeing. Marriage on average, provides a more stable

home environment for children than cohabitating homes, and a much more stable home life than

a single-parent home (Manning 51). Research shows that about two thirds of children in

cohabiting homes see their parents break up by the age of 12, compared to one fourth of children

in married homes (Manning 54). A child who grew up in a cohabiting household is more likely

to have social problems with other children at school or display extremely aggressive behavior

(Manning 58). Boys especially, are profoundly affected by the way they are raised. For example,

boys who grew up in single-parent homes are twice as likely to commit a grievous crime that

lands them in prison bars the time they are in their early thirties (Waite et al. 133-134). This sad

statistic is often a result of boys not having strong father figures in their lives. One only has to

look around to see the number of children growing up with only their biological mother,. Boys in

these types of families do not have a father figure in the home to teach them to act as a

responsible man or a good citizen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a former Senator and advisor to

three presidents during his lifetime, sagely said these words explaining how the lack of a stable

family life effects young boys growing into young men:

From the wild Irish slums of the 19th-century Eastern seaboard, to the riot-torn suburbs of

Los Angeles [in 1965], there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: a

community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families,

dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never

acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future—the community asks for and

gets chaos. Crime, violence, unrest, disorder—most particularly the furious, unrestrained
 Broughton 12

lashing out at the whole social structure—that is not only expected; it is very near to

inevitable (Schwartz 49).

Although Mr. Moynihan said these words over fifty years ago, his words still ring true. Watch

any real-life crime show. More often than not, the men who are wrestling with the law grew up

with no father figure present in their home. When young boys do not learn how to be responsible

and self-controlled from a father figure, they do not respect any other male, or female, authority

figure. A strong, committed marriage is the surest way to raise a child successfully and teach

them to value and have compassion for others.

Even in the face of growing opposition that believes marriage no longer matters, marriage

has proven itself to offer the best benefits in terms of one’s finances, legal privileges, and health.

Children who grow up in a loving home with two married parents are in many ways, better off

than children who do not. A successful marriage can positively affect a child's future. If a child

grows up in a home where he or she is loved and cared for by their married parents, it can inspire

them to follow suit. They will want to experience the same love and devotion their parents share.

Marriage not only offers its treasures for the present generation; it allows them to be shared for

generations to come.
 Broughton 13

Works Cited

Ashford, Kate. “11 Things You Never Thought Of When You Decided Not To Get

Married.” Forbes, Forbes Media LLC, 29 June 2015,

www.forbes.com/sites/kateashford/2014/09/26/deciding-not-to-get-married/. Accessed 3

Mar. 2019.

Cohn, D’Vera, et al. “Barely Half of U.S. Adults Are Married – A Record Low.” Pew Research

Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project, Pew Research Center's Social &

Demographic Trends Project, 14 Dec. 2011,

www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/12/14/barely-half-of-u-s-adults-are-married-a-record-

low/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2019.

Jacobson, Ivy. “13 Legal Benefits of Marriage.” Theknot.com, XO Group Inc., 8 Nov. 2017,

www.theknot.com/content/benefits-of-marriage. Accessed 11 Apr. 2019.

Krisberg, Kim. “Marriage Linked to Lower Stroke Risk.” The Nation's Health, Sept. 2018, p.

9. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com. Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

Linn, Allison. “Why Married People Tend to Be Wealthier: It's Complicated.” TODAY.com,

NBC Universal, 13 Feb. 2013, www.today.com/money/why-married-people-tend-be-

wealthier-its-complicated-1C8364877. Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

Manning, Wendy D. “Cohabitation and Child Wellbeing.” The Future of Children, vol. 25, no. 2,

2015, pp. 51–58.,

doi:https://futureofchildren.princeton.edu/sites/futureofchildren/files/media/marriage_and

_child_wellbeing_revisited_25_2_full_journal.pdf. Accessed 12 Apr. 2019.

 Broughton 14

“Marriage Rights and Benefits.” Nolo, 12 May 2016, www.nolo.com/legal-

encyclopedia/marriage-rights-benefits-30190.html. Accessed 11 Apr. 2019.

Parker-Pope, Tara. “Is Marriage Good for Your Health?” The New York Times, The New

York Times, 14 Apr. 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18marriage-

t.html. Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

Rector, Robert, et al. “The Effect of Marriage on Child Poverty.” The Heritage Foundation, The

Heritage Foundation, 12 Apr. 2002, www.heritage.org/poverty-and-inequality/report/the-

effect-marriage-child-poverty. Accessed 23 Mar. 2019.

Ribar, David C. “Why Marriage Matters for Child Wellbeing.” The Future of Children, vol. 25,

no. 2, 2015, pp. 15–20.,

doi:https://futureofchildren.princeton.edu/sites/futureofchildren/files/media/marriage_and

_child_wellbeing_revisited_25_2_full_journal.pdf. Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

Schwartz, Joel. “The Socio-Economic Benefits of Marriage: A Review of Recent Evidence From

the United States.” Business Source Complete, Sept. 2005, pp. 45-51 eds-b-ebscohost-com.

Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

Waite, Linda J., and Maggie Gallagher. The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are

Happier, Healthier, and Better off Financially. 1.0 version, 1st ed., Broadway Books,

2001.