Depends on the lawyers haha But more seriously… if you aren’t willing to take a guaranteed decently large pay increase (which scales with future income growth)

Depends on the lawyers haha But more seriously… if you aren’t willing to take a guaranteed decently large pay increase (which scales with future income growth) with the added chance of losing more to legal fees and arbitration later on… you probably shouldn’t get married. You’re probably correct that for a middle class family the pure fiscal return will likely be positive if your marriage lasts just a handful of years.