It turns out that the benefits of legal marriage have been carefully enumerated during the movement for legal gay marriage, so it's pretty easy to look this up.

It turns out that the benefits of legal marriage have been carefully enumerated during the movement for legal gay marriage, so it's pretty easy to look this up. Here's a report from the federal government enumerating all the federal laws around marriage: http://www.gao.gov/archive/1997/og97016.pdf http://www.gao.gov/archive/1997/og97016.pdf