Dear Abby: Marriage of Convenience Would Come With Better Benefits

[cereta]

DEAR ABBY: I am a gay man. My friend "Brian" and I have known each other for 10 years. We dated for a while, but realized we are better off as friends. We have lived together for the past several years and are now considering getting married because my job has better benefits. My question is, is a marriage of convenience legal? -- GOING TO THE CHAPEL?

DEAR GOING: Marriages of convenience have been happening since the institution of marriage was invented. That said, however, this is a question you should address to a lawyer to make sure that if you decide to marry Brian, you'll be going to the chapel instead of going to the hoosegow for insurance fraud.

Comments

[cereta]

1. What most people today would define as a "marriage of convenience" has been just plain "marriage" for much of human history and culture.

2. Unless the LW's company has a definition of marriage beyond "entered into the legal institution of by the laws of your state/province/country," should there be any issue? People get and remain married for all kinds of reasons. IANAL, and it never hurts to get legal advice, but if we started imposing other requirements*, things would get complicated really quickly.

*Yes, I realize we do something like that for immigration, but still.

[korafox]

Yes, I'm pretty sure as long as you are legal spouses and you are not trying to claim/have multiple spouses, you could be bitter archenemies and it would not matter one bit for the purpose of employer-provided insurance.

Hm, that would make a very interesting foeyay fanfic.... ^~^

[cereta]

"She may be evil, but she still needs regular PAP smears."

"I refuse to let Ultraspecialamazing man be done in by lack of prostate screening. If I have to have them so does he mwahahaha!!!!"

[delight]

Two of my closest friends (both AFAB) got married as soon as gay marriage was legalized in Texas ...

... 90% for health insurance and the last 10% was so the small human could have a second legal parent. They consider each other queerplatonic soulmates, but both are in romantic/sexual relationships with other people. I'm pretty sure that friend's employer even KNOWS this is why they got married. Nobody seems to care.

[naath]

I don't know about insurance, I'm not in he US. But if you try to do this to change someone's immigration status you should expect lots of intrusive questions to establish that the marriage isn't a sham to get papers

[redbird]

As I understand it, immigration's intrusive questions are things like "which side of the bed do you sleep on?" (on the assumption that in a "real" marriage the people share a bed). But it's easier to agree to say "yes, of course" for "has this marriage been consummated?" than to keep stories straight on "who sleeps on which side of the bed?" or "how does your wife take her coffee?"

[ambyr]

I am puzzled why anyone would address a legal question to Dear Abby, who last I checked is not known for her law degree.

[mommy]

There are certainly worse reasons to get married. This one feels rather benign.

[azurelunatic]

I have some friends who got married for housing and insurance purposes. Great friends.

My thought is practical and legal, but not the way you're thinking: make sure you keep who owns what in mind and agreed upon, in case you want to divorce later...