What would you do... even if you are single, married or living together?

I think living together is fine if that is what the couple wishes to do. I know alot of people say that marriage is only a piece of paper, but to me, marriage is a commitment. When you take those vows and sign that paper, you are commiting your life to your partner. I think way too many people now a days are giving up on their relationship before it even begins. I have been married for 11 years and do not think divorce is ever in my future. I made a commitment to my husband and now my children to be a family and I take that commitment VERY seriously.

I was married for quite a long time then my ex husband and I got divorced. We had to go through the long and expensive process of Court and solicitors. I am now living with my new partner and neither of us feel that we want to marry. We are happy to live together in a partnership and it doesn't really matter whether we are not married, so long as we love each other

no,i thnk that just living together without any social commitments is not that great when it comes to marriage.i think that if two people are in love then they should do all they can to formalise thier relationship. what will happen if they end up having a child,moreover how will the child in question feel knowing that his parents are not married,would he/she not have to live with that stigma as a product of unmarried couple??

I was married twice neither worked out for long, my x and i lived together 15 years that ended too, now i am living with another man who has asked me to marry him, i said yes but am in no real hurry to set a date. It's not that I don't love him enough to marry him, i am just as happy living with him as husband and wife, the only thing that piee of paper will help me with is when i get old i can collect on his social security LOL

Well for me I think that living together before you get married is a smart idea. I think you should see if you're compatible and if you can put up with each other before you make a commitment. Me and my boyfriend are about to get a house together and I know a lot of people think it's wrong but we'll get married. We know that we're meant to be but we're just not ready to get married. I'm also afraid of marrying someone and then finding out their impossible to live with and then having to either get a divorce or put up with it. But as for living together for a long period of time and not being married, I don't think that's right. After a year or so why wouldn't you just go ahead and tie the knots.

Hmm.. another tough cookie. If the 2 individuals are both individualistic and have high earning power, then cohabitation may be a good choice - since you don't know when they will break up. But if they feel that their love is strong enough, marriage is still for the best - unless they don't want kids.

i've been living w my bf for years now and quite frankly, he's mentioned getting married... but at this point i really don't want to. i don't feel that i need that to define my love that i have for him. i'm not going anywhere and neither is he... we are committed to each other and to our lil family (baby), so i don't see the point of going down the isle right now. i want to have accomplished certain things as an individual and as a couple before i become a wife. i just don't feel like i need to justify my life with him to the world, it's perfect the way it is.

Frankly I don't approve the idea of this live in relationship. Couples who are together seem to want to do everything under the sun but get married. I don't understand that at all and don't like it, that's just me. I'm married and like it this way. It's beyond me why couples are so intimidated by marrriage and want to test the raltionship to see if it works. To me that is no way to live, if you want a good relationship you should learn to accept your partner the way he/she is and not change them like clothes just because you don't like them. Sigh, I can go on and on about it, but will it matter?

For me, I choice like you. Have a husband and living together with my family. I don't want to living together without commitment. Because for the women that's too dangerous. I never do that. But for making love it's ok.

Ofcourse, for me, getting married is the best way before going into serious relationship. Married that compose of love trust and understanding to both parties.

I have been married nearly 3 years and been with my husband for nearly 5 years, we stayed over at weekends at each other places before we got married but didn't make the commitment of moving in together full time until after we were married, even though we'd both been married before and even though my (fairly traditional Indian) parents even encouraged us to move in together as well as telling us to hurry up and get married. We just didn't feel it was the right step for us to live together until we were married - I have no problem with those that choose to do so - it's all down to personal choice. Thinking about it from another point of view - in this day and age it might actually be more practical to live together (providing you live in a country where this sort of thing is socially acceptable) before making the commitment to getting married - sort of a trial run as some people might think they love each other and can ignore each other's fault, but imagine you marry someone and start living together only to find out their habit of leaving the lid off the toothpaste drives you mad, or they have serious hygiene issues or they talk in their sleep or worse, once you're married and living together it'd hardly be acceptable to tell a judge you want a divorce "because my wife snores really loudly and refuses to do anything about it" or "he has really smelly feet!" In western culture this is more the norm obviously, some people live together before getting married as they're saving up to have a dream wedding and why spend money on renting or owning 2 properties when you can just live in one? There are pros and cons to living together before marriage and also to not living together :)

Speaking for myself well, we cannot blame other people if they decide to just live-in together than doing the traditional way of getting married first before living together. Some couple find marriage as a security or gaurantee, some take it for granted, anyway u see it just respect their decision, sooner or later i know they'll come up with thier own decision. And don't bother urself too much for this, anyway u look at it better to respect other people's choice than to make conflict, so everybody's happy, and as what they say "U cannot please everybody".

living together without marriage seems to be normal in this generation.i think its because most of the folks now are afraid of commitiment.they dont want to suffer or they dont want to take some adjustment to their lives.they only seek happiness and they neglect their responsibility. its better to get married when you both reach the age of maturity because you already know your responsibility.and you will have a meaningful relationship because you know how to adjust to each others needs....

oh my goodness that is too normal where i come from.Its like nobody gets married anymore and if they do they get divorced right away.I personally dont think a piece of paper can tell someone theyre in love.If youre with someone youre with them and if theres love involved you dont need to pay someone to hand you a piece of paper to make it final.I think marriage is just a set back because nw days relationships rarely last and if you get married then you have to go throug all that trouble of a divorce

I do belive that people here in sweden tend to live together to until they are really sure.. Atleast I am one of those. I was with a guy for 4 years - living together if we would have gotten married it would have ended in divorce. I am now with a guy for a year - we live together and do all things that a married couple would do, but we don´t have a piece of paper or rings on our fingers. I am sure that if it lasts we will get married - we both want to - but we wanna be sure...

My boyfriend and I have been living together for almost three years now and have a 19 month old son together and we personally have no plans to ever get married. I don't think you need to get married to have a meaningful relationship, if you're committed to each other and love each other then that's all that really matters isn't it? I don't think that people that really love eachother should need a piece of paper to prove that, sometimes it's just enough to know between yourselves.

Honestly, I know a couple that lived together for 8 years very happily, and they always said they didn't want to get married, that they didn't need that bit of paper to prove their love for each other. They did end up marrying when their families started putting pressure on them to "make it official." They did, and a year later, they got divorced. I am currently living with my partner. It was always agreed that we would marry and we're currently saving and making the plans for our Wedding, due to take place in April of next year. I couldn't imagine living with someone and not eventually marrying them. It doesn't seem right. I personally believe that marriage makes a relationship more meaningful. You pledge to be true and loyal to each other for the rest of your lives. What could possibly be more meaningful than that?

No i think better option is social commitments first and than stay together. That social commitments serve as bound in your life and keep you together and near, and strengthen the relationship further. Staying together and than saying bye bye and moving towards someone else, trying another, all this doent work. It only increases depressions and frustrations in our lives.

As of now, for me being single is fun.! Since I'm the only child of my parents, I'm used being alone in everything I do...

I think it depends on alot of situations for example religious backgrounds, what the experience was, how you morally feel. I think this is a personal decision.