If you are married, or if you are contemplating marriage, it is important to understand the legal nature of a marriage relationship and it is important to understand your rights, duties and obligations in a marriage.

In a marriage, both parties have equal rights in most every state in the United States. This includes:

• the rights to make contracts
• to incur debts
• to carry on business relationships
• to allocate your money to the marriage, or not

Each party can purchase a house, for example, and although realtors and sellers may be advised not to go through with the deal, a spouse is legally entitled to purchase a house without consent of the other spouse.

Also, any spouse can be financially dependent on the other, and has no legal obligation to go into the world and earn money for the marriage. There may, however, be an obligation to care for children that might affect this choice.

Who Owns What in Marriage

What is critical to understand is who owns what in a marriage. This determination varies by state law. States vary in their legal formulas for deciding who owns what in a marriage. This becomes important when a couple seeks to dissolve their marriage and divide their property. Some states have a body of law that is called "community property" law.

A community property law typically holds that in the event of a divorce, an equal division of property is required. Most states are not community property states, and these states typically seek to divide property according to principles of fairness, which rarely means equally. Which body of law your state has can make a difference as to the answer of who owns what in your marriage.

The most overwhelmingly litigated area is dissolution of marriage or divorce. An understanding of this area is essential to anyone contemplating dissolving their marriage, since the legal issues are often skewed by the perception of people who have been involved in the legal system in this area in some manner.