Marrying for Money and Other Legal Warning Signs

"Marrying for money" may sound bad, but it is becoming the norm in America.

According to research, most Americans want a partner who provides financial security more than "head over heels" love. That's what you'd expect academics to say, right?

Seriously, isn't it a warning sign that more than half of Americans prefer money over love? And isn't a strange coincidence that half of the marriages end in divorce?

Marriage Myths

Just to clear the stat sheet, it used to be true that your chances of marital success were about 50/50. But times have changed, according to Psychology Today.

"The truth is, the average couple getting married today has more like a 75 percent chance of staying married," writes Renee Peltz Dennison, Ph.D. "That means that only about 1 in 4 recent marriages are likely to end in divorce."

On the other hand, people are more realistic than romantic these days. Abby Rodman, a psychotherapist, says people are waiting longer to get married for practical reasons.

Colloquially speaking, some 56 percent of Americans marry for crazy rich over crazy love. Margaret Ryznar, writing for the Family Law Prof Blog, notes that the statistic is about even for men and women.

Marriage Facts

Weddings often go up in June, and divorces apparently go up in December. At least, that was true last year.

Forbes reported that new tax laws brought a "flurry of year-end activity with people trying to finalize their divorces." That's primarily because alimony is no longer deductible by the payor.

Marrying for money doesn't mean divorce is all about money, but financial uncertainty is a common cause of divorce. In any case, money doesn't ensure marital success.

Just ask MacKenzie and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Twenty five years of marriage and $137 billion later, they are getting divorced.

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