• Marriage is a sacred unionmarriage image by Mykola Velychko from Fotolia.com
  
  Marriage is a legal union between two individuals who wish to spend the rest of their lives together. According to American law, when a man and a woman are legally married, they are accorded certain rights and privileges. It's important to know about these rights and benefits if you're thinking about getting married.
  
  

Financial Rights

• Marriage affords financial benefits.marriage defined image by Christopher Walker from Fotolia.com
  
  When two people get married, they both gain certain financial rights. These financial rights can be of benefit to a married couple. Married couples are entitled to file joint taxes, instead of filing individual taxes. This gives most married couples an overall tax advantage. They are also entitled to share deductions for mortgage payments and for children.
  
  

Health Insurance Rights

• Married couples are entitled to have a joint health insurance policy. This can result in savings, making health insurance more affordable. Some states provide health insurance benefits and deductions if both husband and wife are gainfully employed. Having two separate health insurance plans can be costly if a couple is not married.
  
  

Divorce

• Marriages do end.mari??s image by JLG from Fotolia.com
  
  There are laws in place to protect either party in the event of a divorce. In America the divorce laws differ from state to state. For instance, in Arizona, when a couple gets divorced, any property that was purchased during the marriage will be distributed equally between the couple. In other states, however, when fault can be attributed to one or the other of the parties, financial disbursement may be rewarded to reflect this. Many states also honor prenuptial agreements, which can affect financial disbursement.
  
  

In the Event of Death

• If one spouse happens to die, the surviving spouse has legal rights. In this event the surviving spouse is entitled to the deceased spouse's Social Security benefits as well as all property and finances. Again, this law varies from state to state, and depending on the deceased spouse's will, the surviving spouse may not be entitled to everything.
  
  

Family

• Married with Childrenfamily image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
  
  Married couples have equal parental responsibility for their children, giving both husband and wife equal rights when it comes to custody of those children. In the event of a breakup or divorce, the full time responsibility would normally go with the mother. However the law states that an out-of-court mutual agreement can be made if the couple were previously married. The validity of this also depends on the circumstances of the breakup. Both parents also have an equal right to visit children in the hospital in the event of illness or accident. When it comes to children, both biological parents have equal rights--no one parent is more entitled to parental responsibility than the other.