Every year, nearly 750,000 Americans file for divorce - and most of them discover, for the first time, what marriage actually meant. Not emotionally. Legally. So You're Getting Married. Have You Read the Manual? is the book your wedding planner forgot to give you. Written in the tradition of narrative nonfiction, it takes a warm, witty, and occasionally alarming look at the one contract most people sign without reading: the marriage license. From medieval property law to modern community property rules, from the neuroscience of why we're neurologically impaired at the moment we propose, to the $11 billion divorce industry waiting patiently on the other side, Elliot Marsh makes the case that loving someone and understanding what you're legally agreeing to are not in conflict - they're complementary. Along the way, readers will meet couples who were blindsided by debt they never agreed to, business equity they didn't know they'd shared, and retirement accounts they thought were theirs alone. They'll learn what a prenuptial agreement actually is (and isn't), why the alternative to one isn't romance but a contract written by your state legislature, and what the French figured out about marriage that Americans haven't. The book covers thirteen chapters across four parts: the illusion of what we think we're signing up for; the fine print of what we actually agreed to; why leaving costs more than staying; and what an intentional, eyes-open marriage actually looks like - legally, financially, and romantically. This is not a book about whether to get married. It is a book about how to do it wisely. Because the most loving thing you can do for a partner is understand what you're both agreeing to. Read the manual. Then say I do.
