If you truly love your partner, does a ring and a ceremony really do anything?
I know there are certain legal situations where an official marriage changes who has certain rights, but aren’t those same rights available if you make other legally-official decisions E.G. a will or trusts, etc?
I’m generally curious why people get married beyond the “because I love them” when it costs so much money.
That actually depends on the country. In Germany, as an example, it doesn’t automatically go to your wife - you still have to declare that in your will.
We have the option. If you get married you can get married in ‘(beperkte) gemeenschap van goederen’, which means ‘what’s mine is yours’. Caveat is that anything you owned before you got married will not be taken into account.
Then there’s ‘huwelijkse voorwaarden’ which means ‘what’s mine is mine’.
Same here, but for us, it is a common misconception that this also is for when one dies. Crazy system if you ask me because totally unintuitive.
In the Netherlands, if you don’t have a will, it all goes to the spouse.