Why wed? Lease a spouse instead

Share with others:

Print Email Read Later

We all know that far too many marriages end in divorce, yet the institution does not adapt. So why is there no effort to improve the legal structure of marriage?

Marriage is a legal partnership that lasts a lifetime -- that of the first of the spouses to die. Generally, that is a long time for any partnership. People, circumstances, all sorts of things change. The compatibility of any two people over decades may decline with these changes to the point of extinction.

In real estate, one may own a life estate in a piece of property. This is comparable to the term of a marriage -- a lifetime. And in real estate, one may hold possession of property for shorter terms through a lease. Why don't we borrow from real estate and create a marital lease? Instead of wedlock, a "wedlease."

Here's how it could work: Two people commit themselves to marriage for one year, five years, 10 years, whatever term suits them. The marital lease could be renewed at the end of the term however many times a couple likes. It could end up lasting a lifetime if the relationship remains good. But if the relationship turns bad, the couple could go their separate ways at the end of the term. The messiness of divorce is avoided and the end could be as simple as vacating a rental unit.



A wedlease could also imitate a real-estate lease through the use of security deposits. Each spouse could deposit a sum of money with an independent third party to ensure compliance with the wedlease. A further step could be to authorize the third party to arbitrate disputes between the spouses.

Our society has become comfortable with premarital and postnuptial contracts. The marital lease would be similar, except that it addresses the reality that the marital relationship between two people often does not last a lifetime.

When a college noticed that students did not use sidewalks around a courtyard but cut across the lawn for efficiency, administrators decided to move the sidewalks rather than continuing to post "Keep off the grass" signs that people ignored. Similarly, why doesn't society make the legal structure of marriage more congruent to our behavior? A wedlease may be a practical improvement to an institution whose success, today, is something of a coin toss.


Paul Rampell is a lawyer in Palm Beach who specializes in estate planning. He wrote this for The Washington Post.


You have 2 remaining free articles this month

Try unlimited digital access

If you are an existing subscriber,
link your account for free access. Start here

You’ve reached the limit of free articles this month.

To continue unlimited reading

If you are an existing subscriber,
link your account for free access. Start here