Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 (Tek) 9/26/83; site orca.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!orca!andrew From: andrew@orca.UUCP (Andrew Klossner) Newsgroups: net.kids Subject: Re: Raising kids out of wedlock Message-ID: <1048@orca.UUCP> Date: Thu, 13-Sep-84 12:04:23 EDT Article-I.D.: orca.1048 Posted: Thu Sep 13 12:04:23 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 01:49:44 EDT References: <1185@hcrvax.UUCP> Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 35 I think that this is terribly unfair to any kids you may have. Your children will be ridiculed and may be treated as second-class citizens. We're not so far from the days when a "bastard" was considered an untouchable and had fewer legal rights that "legitimate" people. And young children will be the first to use cruel and irrational taunts to make your kids feel like dirt. There's also the question of inheritance. If you're not legally married, there may be a problem if one or both of you die. I don't know about Canada, but in the states inheritance is taxed at a lower rate, sometimes not at all, when property passes to the deceased's legal spouse. (Most of the states have eliminated the concept of "common law marriage".) Hmmm ... you may have trouble traveling. In many places it is illegal for an innkeeper to rent a room to an unmarried couple. In some of the more medieval countries (Arabia?), just being together may get you in big trouble. My beloved and I went through some of these problems when we were "living together". We had a great deal of trouble renting a house together, and later had the same problems in buying. In the state of Michigan, cohabitation is illegal, and any neighbor with a grudge against us could have had us arrested. We eventually got married because one of us got a new job in a state far away, and we wanted the company to pay to move both of us. They would only do this if we were married. On the other hand, once we were married our US income tax went up by $6000/year because we both earn professional salaries. You can't win ... -- Andrew Klossner (decvax!tektronix!orca!andrew) [UUCP] (orca!andrew.tektronix@rand-relay) [ARPA]