> no tax consequences for pooling earnings or for who pays the bills each month I'm not aware of any tax consequences for splitting bills, or for one person pa

> no tax consequences for pooling earnings or for who pays the bills each month I'm not aware of any tax consequences for splitting bills, or for one person paying bills while the other doesn't, or for any such scheme. I'm also not aware of any problem with pooling money. At any rate, I've had joint account owners on my savings account and never had any tax issue. I suppose hypothetically in some situations that it might count as a gift (I do not believe most would) and exceed the gift tax limit, but I doubt anyone ever has paid taxes for this. > handling the legal mechanics of kids (from picking them up from school to paying fees etc) Both parents have parental rights whether or not there is a marriage. There's nothing extra marriage provides legally here. As far as I can tell, the civil benefits of marriage are almost entirely limited to inheritance/estates and hospital paperwork. It's also usually the only way to get someone on your health insurance. Generally, there's not even any tax benefits (except in specific cases with specific credits YMMV, or sometimes if one spouse doesn’t work.)