Jean has been married and divorced twice, and has enjoyed numerous other positive living-together relationships.

One of these non-marriage relationships ended with a spontaneous celebration with friends to ritualize their parting and free each other to move forward into the Unknown with prayers for a happy and blessed new phase of life.

Jean does not condone state-sanctioned marriage, as it is a three-way legal contract with the state, changeable only by unilateral state decree, and nowhere available to be actually read, considered, and agreed upon.  It also provides severe legal tools for financial coercion of one partner against the other, which is of course seen frequently and tragically in our culture.

While there are also state-sanctioned benefits in marriage, Jean believes the history of marriage in contemporary America proves its downsides outweigh the benefits.

Many legal options can be used to assure many benefits similar to those of marriage.  For more information on these legal options for living together with a loved one, visit Nolo.com.