[pdabbadabba]

> People get married in the states because of the law

That's at least vastly overstated, and probably just false. I'm an American living in a major urban center and I don't think I know anybody for whom the decision to get married was influenced by legal considerations to any significant degree.

[kgermino]

I do know a fair number of people who got married for health insurance (not really legal reasons, but maybe adjacent?).

Though very few of those cases we’re people who otherwise would not have gotten married, rather people who got a legal marriage very quickly to access health, benefits then took the normal amount of time for the ceremonial wedding

[jb1991]

Tax benefits. Married, filing jointly. Happens a lot, including to people within my family.

Also, health insurance. Another thing Americans have yet to learn from Europe. In the states, sometimes you have to get married just to get health insurance. It’s kind of ridiculous.

[nothercastle]

There are benefits if you have different income levels but penalties in the low and the high end. Very high penalties on the low end

[jb1991]

Just google all of the legal and financial benefits that you get in the United States when you get married.

[devilbunny]

The legal incentives are quite large, but the financial ones are much less impressive unless you have a stay-at-home spouse.

[pdabbadabba]

I'm not ignorant of the legal incentives in the U.S. and I'm not saying people never marry for those reasons. But the post I was responding to was making a much stronger generalization. Most people who marry in the U.S. also do it for "emotional or spiritual reasons."