The Single Life

Back in 1810, New Jersey repealed its Bachelor’s Tax. The state had been collecting $2 per year from every unmarried male in the state in an effort to promote matrimony. The theory was that the ‘social condition’ would be improved if more men got married. Women didn’t work outside the home then, so families were pressed to get their ‘unproductive’ daughters out of the home as soon as possible. Little did they know that the real beneficiaries of this social engineering were the divorce attorneys, but that is another story.

The entire idea of exploring the differences between men and women, single or married, provides so many opportunities for humor that I am going to assume that each reader can think of several funny jokes to amuse themselves (can you say commitment?), so I will plunge on with the topic.

In America today, 40 percent of all adults are single. And in Allegheny County, the numbers are slightly higher among males, with 32 percent never being married, and 11 percent being widowed or divorced. The size of the group is going to continue to grow due to the steady rate of divorce, increases in health and longevity and the rise in financially independent women, many of whom realize that they do not feel an overwhelming need to marry for financial stability reasons.

What are the benefits and the drawbacks, from a legal standpoint, of being unmarried? Looking at the institution of marriage versus the concept of cohabitation, older adults are choosing to cohabit more often than to get married. The national growth pattern for individuals over the age of 50 getting together to share their lives has doubled in the past 15 years. I refer to this group as ‘late-life live-ins.’ Here we are not talking about people who are in same-sex relationships, although that may be a small component of the group, but we are referring to the simple concept of roommates living together, whether they are the same gender or different.

While younger people fresh out of school commonly live with another person to split expenses, those relationships most often last only a year or two. On the other hand, when people come together after age 50, their relationships frequently last until one of them dies. More often than not, they have already been married for years, and those marriages ended either in death or divorce. A 2007 study published in the Journal of Family Issues found that “single people at older ages seem to be rejecting marriage.”

Companies tend to pay married men between 10 to 30 percent more money for the same job, simply because they are married. How can this be, you might ask? The companies are trying to make these men happy and productive, and if they have a stable home life, the company thinks that will translate into making them stable employees.

Single men who become fathers are pretty far down the ladder when it comes to selecting the primary parent for a young child. In Pennsylvania, the court looks to what is in the best interests of the child, and the judge holds the ultimate power in custody and visitation cases. Judges look pretty harshly at a single man as a primary parent, usually siding with the mother, or even with the grandparents before giving the natural father a vote.

What about health issues? For decades, it has been said that married men are healthier than their single counterparts. The reason most often cited is that the wives will push their husbands to seek medical advice. But recent studies have shown that single men are closing that gap, mainly due to education and media coverage of men’s health issues.

While we are talking about health, let’s talk about insurance. Rates for single men are higher for health insurance, disability insurance, life insurance and long-term care insurance. Sometimes life is not fair.

How about estate planning? If the two roommates each come to the relationship with their own families, they need to protect the inheritances of their own children. And when two individuals own a home together, such as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, and if each of them has a child still living at home, is the child of the first partner to die now rendered homeless? This requires the input and planning of an experienced estate planning attorney who will think the issues through and help you arrive at the proper method to dispose of the property.

Now on to everyone’s favorite subject: taxes. There are two major tax issues that face bachelors: inheritance tax and income tax. Inheritance tax hits the estates of unmarried men pretty hard. If they don’t have children and want to leave their money to their siblings, the tax rate is 12 percent; but if they leave it to their nieces and nephews, the tax rate is 15 percent. Income tax rates for the unmarried are higher than for their married counterparts. Apparently the tax benefits for married people, like having a lower tax rate and more deductions, are being paid for by the single people of the world.

My aunt lived her 94 years unmarried and childless. She told us more than once that while she was alone, she was never lonely. Maybe the single people of this country need to band together and fight back. But that would require a commitment.

Christopher M. Abernethy has been practicing law in Hampton Township since 1976. He focuses on elder law, which includes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills and probate matters. He also is proficient in all aspects of real estate law and business law. He is a member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys and the AARP Legal Services Network. He can be reached at (412) 486-6624 or by email at cabernethy@aaylaw.com.