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.
When Cory Watson, a 23-year-old pharmacy technician from Paradise, California, noticed that a tax refund had been deposited into the joint checking account he maintains with his wife, he did two things. First, he headed to the mall where he quickly spent the $100 on new DVDs. Second, he kept his mouth shut.
Polygamous sects that have spread throughout the United States and beyond are "a form of organized crime," largely unchecked by law enforcement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.
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
San Francisco's mayor spurred the issue with a huge round of weddings in 2004. Now same sex marriages are legal in California, but he worries about the next step
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.
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.
When Cory Watson, a 23-year-old pharmacy technician from Paradise, California, noticed that a tax refund had been deposited into the joint checking account he maintains with his wife, he did two things. First, he headed to the mall where he quickly spent the $100 on new DVDs. Second, he kept his mouth shut.
Polygamous sects that have spread throughout the United States and beyond are "a form of organized crime," largely unchecked by law enforcement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.
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
San Francisco's mayor spurred the issue with a huge round of weddings in 2004. Now same sex marriages are legal in California, but he worries about the next step
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.
When we married 22 years ago, my wife and I started with two old cars and not much more. I had spent my last dime on our honeymoon; she was just finishing school. At the time it seemed as if years would pass before we'd have the income to travel again. So without telling her, I began to sock away $20 a week. It was my secret vacation fund - and, it turns out, my first act of financial infidelity.
Dear FSB: My husband and I manage separate small businesses. Will this hurt or help my marriage?
Can a piece of paper save a marriage? One suburban Boston couple figured it was worth trying so they entered into a legal agreement to manage a major source of tension in their relationship - money.
In a dramatic about-face, Ask.com is abandoning its effort to outshine Internet search leader Google Inc. and will instead focus on a narrower market consisting of married women looking for help managing their lives.
The world is full of advice for married couples, newlyweds or not -- some of it commonsensical, most of it well-intentioned, and much of it wrong. In the 14 years we've been married, my husband and I have broken all the rules at least once -- and when I copped to friends, most of them gleefully admitted they'd done the same.
The polygamist "prophet" is found guilty of accessory to rape, a victory for a novel legal tactic focusing on child abuse
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.
Sara Hammon saw some of her sisters pulled out of school to be married to men they didn't know. She dreaded a similar fate. And so, she ran away from home before she was old enough to drive legally.
Impaneling a jury to hear the highly publicized rape case against a polygamous sect leader could prove difficult, some observers and legal experts say
Less than two hours after a judge struck down Iowa's decade-old gay marriage ban, two Des Moines men applied for a marriage license
Denise Jackson knew that her marriage to Alan Jackson wasn't perfect. She was too needy and insecure in the relationship, and he was on the road a lot, becoming one of country's biggest superstars.
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?
I'm retired and in my 70s and considering buying an annuity. I don't need it for myself, but I want my wife to have it in case I die before her. Do you think I should buy one?
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.
Multnomah County, Oregon's most populous county, started granting marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples Wednesday after the county attorney said refusing to do so is unconstitutional.
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."
California's Supreme Court has rejected a request from the state's attorney general to stop gay weddings and declare invalid over 3,400 same-sex marriages.
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:
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom shut off the same-sex marriage license pipeline this weekend, but will reopen the city clerk's office Monday for business as usual -- with marriage licenses issued by appointment only.
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
When Anthony DeHart got married seven years ago--in the midst of building his precision-cutting-tool company, DeHart Tooling Components--he made three mistakes. First, after a romantic wedding in G...
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...
House Republican leaders have backed off their grandiose plan for a $700 billion tax cut. But lawmakers in both parties are hitting the campaign trail with vows to remedy the so-called marriage pen...
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
WHERE BETTER to go for answers to the big questions about 401(k) savings plans than to the man who created them? No, this financial innovator isn't a Wall Street rocket scientist, although providin...
ARE YOU ONE OF THE 136 MILLION AMERICANS without a valid will? If so, here's what may happen when you die: No matter how you want your property divided, a judge will split it up according to your s...
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...
THE JOB of passing the wealth you've accumulated to the people you want to receive it, once a fairly simple procedure, has lately become a twisted fabric -- a woof of good intentions too often warp...
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 ...
From high atop San Francisco's fashionable Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel comes the midnight cry of the wedding party: ''Bring on the tequila poppers, waiter! We want tequila poppers!'' It was...
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...
Why Did I Marry You Anyway? The following article is adapted from a charming new book bearing that plaintive title, published by Houghton Mifflin/Peter Davison Books ($16.95). Its author, Arlene Mo...
IT'S STRANGE but true: about seven of 10 adults have life insurance, but only a third have wills. The most plausible explanation for such faulty forward planning is that insurance is sold and wills...
NO MATTER HOW successful an investor you are, you still can't take it with you. But the long bull market in stocks and real estate means that you may have more to leave behind than you thought. In ...
Some people think the new tax law erased all write-offs right off the books. Not entirely. In fact, tax reform has opened some brand-new ways to reduce your liability to the Internal Revenue Servic...
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