Mature Life Features

. . .a million years ago,

but I recall being awakened one morning

by my neighbor mowing his lawn.

It was too early too get up,

so I just let him mow around me.

2 Can Live in Sin More Cheaply Than 1

It may not be entirely due to the fact that it’s no longer nec­essary to be married to be polit­ically correct, but the number of older couples living together without a marriage license has almost doubled over the past 2 1/2 decades, according to Census Bureau figures.

Taxes, divorce settlements, pro­bate laws and pension require­ments are all cited as possible sources of penalties if cohabit­ing couples decide to get mar­ried officially.

Elderly people who receive Supplemental Security Income can lose this benefit if they combine incomes through mar­riage. A partner with a sizeable estate can wreck a cozy finan­cial tax-shelter structure built over the years by the person he or she is living with if they decide to become legal spouses.

Latest figures indi­cate there are some 5 million couples older than 50 years of age living together without taking the trip to the altar or justice of the peace. This is almost 10 times more than the total at the turn of this century.

Among the reasons for remaining single while living together is the need to avoid tension among children that might re­sult when a parent — widowed or divorced – remarries. In many cases, couples who take up cohabitation discover their financial disparities early. The woman may still be work­ing and the man retired but ex­pects his spouse to support his champagne tastes on his beer-budget retirement income.

Many financial issues in­volve divorced individuals, es­pecially those who receive court-ordered benefits resulting from the split. Widows and widowers may lose Social Security benefits due their deceased spouse if they remarry before they turn 60.

Wills and other legal docu­ments can help in the disposi­tion of assets when one or both partners die. But all financial issues should be discussed with children so they — yours and your partner’s — will not be surprised when one of you dies.

Compounding all these rules and regulations are a tangle of federal, state and regional laws that you have to check. For example, some states don’t rec­ognize cohabitation as legal.