On Wed, 4 Oct 2017 03:36:39 -0700 (PDT), Cindy Hamilton
> wrote:

>On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 2:53:23 PM UTC-4, Bruce wrote:
>> >On Mon, 2 Oct 2017 09:44:31 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>> >
>> >> https://www.childtrends.org/indicato...married-women/
>> >> The proportion of births to unmarried women has increased greatly in
>> >> recent decades, rising from five percent in 1960 to 32 percent in 1995.
>> >> After some stability in the mid-1990s, there was a gradual rise from
>> >> 1997 through 2008, from 32 to 41 percent. The rate appears to have
>> >> stabilized again, and was at 40 percent in 2014.
>>
>> Marriage has nothing to do with it. The 50s are over. Lots of people
>> see marriage as a useless piece of paper. An unnecessary government
>> (let alone church) approval of your relationship.
>
>It does provide legal protection for spouses. Everything from
>parental rights, to Social Security benefits, to
>the right to determine what happens to the body after death.
>
>That was uppermost in our minds when we got married.
>
>Cindy Hamilton

Here the benefits are the same after two years of co-habitation.