First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes decades of time together strewn with a minefield of potential relationship wreckers. It's a wonder that anyone ends up walking off into the sunset, hand-in-wrinkled-hand, with a silver-haired mate. What do those geriatric lovebirds know that you don't?
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian isn't often held up as a model of prudent behavior. But the recent reports that she and her fiancé, NBA forward Kris Humphries, are working out a prenuptial agreement make her the celebutante face of a practical new trend. Prenups are on the rise. And they aren't just for the wealthy and famous these days.
Drawing up a will may not be the most pleasant task, but it seems straightforward: You leave behind a legal document that specifies how you want your property doled out when your time on this earth is up. What you may not realize, though, is that much of your net worth can be passed along outside of that will. Without some planning, you could unwittingly disinherit intended beneficiaries, including your children, from significant portions of your estate.
Marriage is thought to have a number of health benefits, including greater longevity, less stress, and a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and depression.
updated: Mon Aug 22 2011 11:19:00
CNN's Ninette Sosa tells us about an early indicator for heart disease in men. What he/she has to say may surprise you.
Ron Wallen met the person that he says completed his life in 1953.
Research suggests that marriage is good for your health -- especially if you're a man. Married men tend to live longer than their unwed counterparts, they're more likely to see their doctor regularly, and they even have a lower risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke.
updated: Thu Jun 02 2011 10:09:00
A couple who got engaged after the groom-to-be popped the question via a movie trailer talks to CNN's Carol Costello.
You've tried marriage therapy. You've tried date night. You've tried attitude adjustment, and tricking yourself into ignoring the discontent ("Just suck it up. ... Everyone feels mediocre about their marriages. ... Stop being selfish and whiny").
Arnold Schwarzenegger's indiscretions could cost him dearly, now that he's headed for divorce with Maria Shriver.
It's been said that the only people who know what goes on in a marriage are the two people who are in it, and sometimes, even they're not sure.
updated: Thu May 19 2011 11:36:00
HLN's Dr. Drew Pinksy speaks with CNN's Anderson Cooper about infidelity by public figures.
According to a TIME/Pew research poll released last week, 40 percent of Americans believe that marriage is becoming obsolete, up from just 28 percent in 1978.
"If it's your first marriage, you've got a 50-50 chance," Doyle Hamilton said, looking around the room. "If it's your second, you've got less than that."
Two federal judges have made an important difference in my life recently. I am a lawyer, and judges' rulings frequently have a professional effect. But this time, it's personal.
Can you spot a good marriage? I was pretty sure I could, starting with my own.
TV actress Tang Yi has been married to a film director for over 10 years, but it's been a rocky marriage. "I did not get along with my in-laws, but my husband kept taking their side," she told one of her friends. "He was a sort of momma's boy." Last year, the free-spirited thirtysomething decided she had enough. She got a divorce.
updated: Fri Jun 18 2010 03:45:00
CNN's Emily Chang reports on a baby boom in Sichuan, China after an earthquake devastated it in 2008.
You eat right. You exercise. You get an annual physical. You probably think you're doing everything you can to stay healthy.
updated: Wed Jun 02 2010 11:21:00
Al and Tipper Gore announce they are separating, and those who know them are left asking why.
Tipper Gore stood smiling in her blue coat on stage with her arms out, ready to embrace Al Gore at the Democratic National Convention a decade ago. He arrived into her arms and they locked lips for the world to see.
Being married offers benefits beyond having a standing Saturday night date, or a regular jogging partner, or someone who will reliably take out the garbage.
You don't need NFL training to hurl a pizza across a New York City apartment.
My friend posted this message as her Facebook status update: Maybe it's just me, but I am extremely uncomfortable with any married man calling me "just to say hi." Not good! Respect your wife!
Family law experts assess how a court might divide the golfer's $600 million
If you were to judge the success rate of monogamy by the sex lives of public figures, perhaps couples should change their marriage vows to say, "Till a tempting new partner do us part."
updated: Fri Oct 30 2009 18:25:00
The COO of the Ashley Madison Agency, which helps people cheat, discusses his take on monogamy.
When Kimerby and Tony Simmons were married last month at a vineyard in the foothills outside Atlanta, they participated in the African-American tradition of jumping over a broom - an act symbolizing their entrance into a new phase of life together.
You know the part of the classic wedding ceremony in which couples vow to stick together "for richer, for poorer"? Well, a lot of spouses lately are really putting the latter part of that promise to the test.
Novelist and screenwriter Nora Ephron once wrote, "When you have a baby, you set off an explosion in your marriage, and when the dust settles, your marriage is different from what it was."
With "Black in America 2," CNN deepens its investigation of the most challenging issues facing African-Americans. CNN's Soledad O'Brien journeys to South Africa and criss-crosses the U.S., reporting on groundbreaking solutions that are transforming the black experience in America. O'Brien uncovers pioneers who are making a difference: people inspiring volunteerism, programs that are improving access to quality health care and education, and leaders working to address financial struggles and develop strong families. Before and after viewing these programs, use our free Discussion Questions and Learning Activity to facilitate a conversation with your middle and high school students.
From the outside, Johnny and Shanna Woodbury looked like the perfect couple. They had been married 13 years, owned multiple properties and were successful managers. They also had four beautiful children -- a son and a daughter fresh out of college they had prior to getting married and a 12-year-old daughter on the cheerleading team and an 8-year-old son on the honor roll.
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes decades of time together strewn with a minefield of potential relationship wreckers. It's a wonder that anyone ends up walking off into the sunset, hand-in-wrinkled-hand, with a silver-haired mate. What do those geriatric lovebirds know that you don't?
No one can truly know what goes on inside a marriage except the two people involved, but researchers are getting increasingly good glimpses at what makes couples tick, how relationships are stressed and what factors can keep the spark alive.
The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously rejected a state law Friday that banned same-sex marriage, and opponents wasted little time in pushing for a state constitutional amendment that could send the issue to voters.
Proponents of redefining marriage couldn't wait for the new president to be sworn in before demanding that he erase from the inauguration ceremony a prominent American who disagrees with them.
updated: Mon Jul 28 2008 16:40:00
Keeping financial secrets from your spouse or partner can threaten your relationship and checkbook.
California officials began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Monday evening after a state Supreme Court ruling legalizing the ceremonies took effect.
Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples are securing marriage licenses on Tuesday, the first full day same-sex nuptials will be legal throughout California
When it was time for Sabiha Ansari to get married, her parents flew her to India. She met her husband-to-be for less than 20 minutes, with family, then was asked whether she liked him.
The spurned husband whose arranged marriage is at the center of the rape-accomplice charges against polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs took the witness stand to defend his prophet on Wednesday.
Question: I've contributed to a Roth IRA in the past and plan to do so again this year. My wife isn't employed, but I was wondering whether I can make a Roth IRA contribution for her too. If so, can we have a joint account or do we need two separate IRA accounts? - Raj, Edison, N.J.
Question: My wife and I are planning to retire next year when I'll be 59 and she'll be 60. Together we have about $600,000 in a 401(k), plus I have a pension that I can take as a lump sum of approximately $1 million or as an annuity that will pay $60,000 a year to me or my wife as long as one of us is alive. I'd prefer to take the lump sum and invest the money myself. I'm thinking of laddering bonds plus investing in some mutual funds to hedge inflation. What do you think of my plan? - Peter, Princeton, New Jersey
Question: When I retired, I chose a lump-sum from my company's pension plan and rolled the money into an IRA instead of taking an annuity. I did this because it's my understanding that if my wife and I were to die after receiving just a couple of months of annuity payments, none of the annuity's value would be passed on to our children or other heirs.
When he appeared before a Utah judge via a video link from the county jail this week, the polygamist "Prophet" Warren Jeffs took the first step toward what could be among the most closely followed trials in state history.
Of course love is blind, but that doesn't mean that you have to be. Tying the knot binds your finances together too..for better or worse, in today's top 5 tips we're going to tell you how you can achieve financial harmony in your marriage.
When Revlon chairman Ronald Perelman and actress Ellen Barkin made headlines with their prenuptial agreement recently, it was familiar: another famous bazillionaire couple who, it appeared, put mon...
Money in marriage: For some couples it's a measure of their success at working together toward a common goal; for others it's an ugly battlefield. As our exclusive survey reveals, couples are more ...
When Revlon chairman Ronald Perelman and actress Ellen Barkin made headlines with their prenuptial agreement recently, it was familiar: another famous bazillionaire couple who, it appeared, put money before love. But those pieces of paper are no longer the sole province of the rich and famous, nor are they just for people with no faith in their own marriages.
Some economists argue that marriage makes financial sense precisely because it allows each partner to specialize in what he or she does best. But you can get into trouble if you use Mars and Venus notions as an excuse not to talk about what's up with the money.
The pizza is an hour late and Rhiannon Mercer, dressed in a gauzy, white Cinderella gown and sparkling tiara, is crying. The occasion is her third birthday, and from her standpoint the party isn't ...
I'm 22, in the military and married with a toddler. My husband also works and earns about the same amount I do.
My wife and I are both 62 and retired. We receive Social Security and have a $400,000 stock portfolio that generates income of about $500 a month. Would it make sense to take money from our stock portfolio to purchase a fixed income annuity so we can increase our monthly income for life?
Making plans to preserve your assets in case of a divorce may not be very romantic. But with half the population headed for divorce court after a trip down the aisle, it's not such a bad idea.
Is It Okay To Hide Money From My Spendthrift Spouse?
The wedding bells are ringing. It's June, the busiest month for weddings.
The blessing ceremony following the civil marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles will be shown live on television, the prince's spokesman has told CNN.
Prince Charles has attended a Buckingham Palace state banquet without his fiancee Camilla Parker Bowles, just weeks ahead of their wedding.
Just 30 people will witness the marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, royal officials say.
The British government has responded to criticism from legal experts by issuing a statement saying the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony will be lawful.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles may be forced to allow total strangers into their wedding -- commoners who may be allowed to object to the match.
Turns out the old song is right: If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make an ugly woman your wife. Gorgeous women work too, as do (on the other side of the aisle) husbands of varying aesthetic quality.
Turns out the old song is right: If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make an ugly woman your wife. Gorgeous women work too, as do (on the other side of the aisle) husbands of varying...
For most new widows, the only thing that rivals grief is fear.
Several prosecutions and lawsuits against polygamists, now pending in Utah, are notable for the constitutional defenses that have been -- or could be -- raised.
Massachusetts forged a new chapter in civil rights history Monday as same-sex couples began exchanging wedding vows, marking the first time a state has granted gays and lesbians the right to marry.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - You've really been looking forward to getting married except for one niggling detail: your partner has asked for a prenuptial agreement.
Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples rallied for marriage rights in Manhattan Thursday while about 40 couples lined up in the rain outside New York City Hall seeking to persuade Mayor Michael Bloomberg to issue them marriage licenses.
Same-sex marriage licenses being issued from coast to coast are fueling legal arguments, lawsuits and criminal charges and one Senate opponent warned Wednesday that Americans are "gambling with our future."
President Bush on Tuesday announced his support for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The following is a transcript of the president's remarks:
A San Francisco county judge has combined three cases concerning whether the city's issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples is legal.
The city of San Francisco Thursday filed a lawsuit against the state of California, challenging the state law that defines marriage as being between one man and one woman only, the city attorney's office said.
Looming court battles to stop same-sex marriage have put the more than 2,800 gay and lesbian couples who wed in San Francisco in legal limbo.
A Superior Court judge heard arguments Friday from a conservative group that asked for a restraining order to stop San Francisco from issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Underscoring its original ruling last November, Massachusetts' highest court said Wednesday that only full marriage rights for gay couples, not civil unions, would conform to the state's constitution.
Dear Armchair Millionaire: Our daughter recently got engaged and will be married this winter. We have been wondering about when a prenuptial agreement might be called for. Any guidance on this issue? -- Miami Dad
How do you prepare for divorce? Certainly, it's not something most spouses want to consider, especially while they're building a life together - raising kids, buying a home, saving for a dream retirement.
A father tells his firstborn that as a graduation gift he and Mom are paying off her college loans. When she thanks him, flabbergasted by her parents' gesture, he smiles and says, "That's what mone...
During dinner with friends a few years ago, Arlene Dubin mentioned that she and her second husband had a prenuptial agreement. Her friends were shocked. "They were like, 'Oh, my God. I thought you ...
This filing season, some 48 million married couples signed joint tax returns. In so doing, each spouse swore that "to the best of my knowledge and belief, [the return was] true, correct and complet...
First the bad news: The hours are ticking away, and there's little you can do to lower your April 15 bill. Now the good news: The 1997 Tax Act is chock full of tax breaks for the new year--and it's...
If you took your spouse "for richer or poorer," you now have a chance to prove it. The new 1997 tax law gives bigger tax breaks to many couples who choose not to wed. That means that the so-called ...
After reading the first stories in this special report, you're probably revved up by the idea that you can accumulate enough assets to provide all the money you'll need in retirement. But to really...
Chances are, you haven't given as much thought as you should to whom you've named as beneficiaries on your life insurance policies, retirement plans, annuities or living trusts. So listen up. "The ...
Abigail Huffman, 39, holds degrees from Yale and the University of Pennsylvania. She pulls in $45,000 a year as a beginning stock trader at a Wall Street brokerage. Smart and sophisticated, she's t...
Like most women these days, you're probably thinking that you should be saving more. After all, you sure don't want to wind up living with relatives like angry Aunt Ida. Well, if you haven't got th...
Newlyweds Rex and Teresa LeGalley are not, by any means, difficult to get to know. Rex, 39, a communications engineer at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, is an outgoing man with a h...
THIS MONTH: Why the First Family isn't better off financially under Clinton How to protect your privacy on-line
Only members of the polo set need concern themselves with estate planning, right? Wrong. Start totting up the value of your house, pension, investment portfolio and personal effects, and you'll pro...
Tax planning is your single best hope of reducing your federal and state income tax bills. You know it. I know it. But do you really do it? (You may keep the answer to yourself.) Undoubtedly, your ...
What will it be? St. Thomas in January with daiquiris at the 19th hole and a pile of dividend checks waiting for you back home? Or a part-time job at the local mall, macaroni four nights out of sev...
Isn't it romantic? These days more and more affluent couples -- beyond such likely candidates as Marla and The Donald or Microsoft's billionaire Bill Gates and fiancee Melinda French -- are asking ...
Capital punishment by confiscation!'' ''Draconian!'' ''Apocalypse!'' No, you're not in Paris in 1789, when the aristocracy was learning firsthand about homelessness -- and headlessness, for that ma...
When it comes to a will, all too many people act as if they'll get around to drafting it sometime soon -- just before they die. Like stock market timers, however, they forget one important thing: d...
FAMILY MATTERS The stories that follow in this section expand on the role of wills and trusts in your estate planning. 110 Trusts That Protect Your Family 117 How to Pay Zero Estate Taxes 126 Writi...
When widower Irl Scott, 70, led widow Carol D'Amico, 63, down the aisle last year in Lombard, Ill., the union was all the more carefree because it was calculated. The couple first consulted an acco...
Theoretically, divorced or widowed parents who remarry can bring the best of two worlds to their union: two sizable incomes -- often bolstered by child- support payments from an ex-spouse -- as wel...
Nothing can ruin the romance of a marriage proposal quite like the moment you whip out the prenuptial agreement for your dewy-eyed betrothed to sign. Such ^ contracts protect marriage partners by d...
Smart financial planning demands that you and your family understand how Social Security's retirement, survivor and disability systems work. But Americans have become increasingly confused about th...
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