Job Discussion Forums

[leslie]

Bye

[aroha]

Hi Leslie,
My boyfriend is Mexican and he tells me that the situation of living unmarrried with your partner is called concubinato. Apparently, if a partnership breaks up after two years of living together, legally it is treated the same as a marriage breakup...

[Samantha]

Common law (Union Libre) is quite acceptable here in Mexico because many people don't bother with divorces, instead just moving on with life. And I wouldn't be overly concerned in this area if you don't have any money or assets in Mexico, but you do have to be reasonably cautious of other things you may encounter. I don't know how well you know him or his family, but I would be more afraid of the wrath of his mother than worrying about asset splitting! We lived together for over a year before I married my Mexican sweetie and found this time a relatively good adjustment period for getting to know life up close and personal in a different culture.

[MELEE]

I lived with my husband for 3 years before we got married. Like others have said, its not uncommon in Mexico, I'd say not so much because people don't bother with divorce, but because of the costs involved in marrying and divorcing. Here in Oaxaca a lot of couples would also have to travel to the cities to get legally married as there are not civil registries in most communities. Once a year the civil registery has a bargain mass wedding for people who want to get married but can't afford it. Also there is a place on my marriage certificate that says "This union legitimizes the following children..." I really wanted to write in our dogs names, but the secretary wouldn't let me.

There are also benefits to this kind of union, if one of you has IMSS or ISTTE you can get your "concubine" on your plan fairly easily, If its the male partner, he can even put your children on his plan even if they aren't his children.