regards to mortgages. I own a house (mortgage in my name) where we will live. If I lose my job and have no income for the year, and he pays the mortgage, can he deduct the interest & property taxes on his taxes? If we were married, filing jointly, this would be a non-issue. However, as two individuals, I haven't figured out how to make sense of the situation, since the 1098 would come in my name. #55 AnnJo @ 8:43 am March 15th, 2011 Many states now allow for legal actions to dissolve cohabiting partners' relationships, including a division of property and debts acquired during the cohabitation. So if you view divorce laws as unfair to men, you won't necessarily avoid all of those laws by simply living together. Growing up without both parents in the household seems to be associated with many negative outcomes for children financially, emotionally, educationally and health-wise. This association may be merely correlative rather than causative, but it suggests that if the reason you choose not to marry is that you are uncertain about your partner's suitability, then you should avoid having children with someone you can't commit to. There are many wonderful step-parents out there, and many rotten parents who are better out of their children's lives, and many divorced parents who work very hard to avoid harming their children, so please don't flame me over this comment; I'm speaking of overall statistics and those hold true regardless of the exceptions. #56 Dusie