> > But they also have to get a marriage license from the state. What rights does that give them? In some states, an underage spouse can drink in the presence of their of-age partner. State sanctioned marriage used to give couples the right to insure each other,
>
> What??? I was supposed to buy a *marriage license*? Uh-oh.
>
> We were required to take a pre-marital counselling course with a bunch of other to-be-weds, but I never got any legally sanctioned paperwork out of it.
>
> Wolf "I thought all we had to do was fill in our income tax forms for the last four years saying we've been hitched, so that 'Please Mr. Revenue Minister' could take MORE taxes from us being married, rather than the usual income benefit that married couples supposedly get in the rest of the world. Grrrr" spirit

I never thought about it, but marriage licenses must be a U.S. thing. To get married in the U.S., you must have a marriage license. The cost varies from state to state, but it generally costs somewhere between $30 and $60. It seemed a bit unfair to me that a California marriage license costs $54 while a Colorado license only costs $10. However, then I discovered that a Florida license costs $88, and a St. Lucia (isn't that a tropical place somewhere?) one costs $302! I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

On a side note, when I was looking around for prices in California, I ran across this sentence: "Rev. Goggans can only issue the Confidential License 7 days a week." When I told my fiance, his response was: "Only 7 days a week? Forget about getting married on marzday."

Ell"Should start planning her wedding yesterday"myruh