I can certainly understand a person wanting to be sure of things before making a lifetime commitment. It's certainly true that during courtship a person tends to put his best foot forward, not allowing the other person to see his or her flaws. So if you're thinking a certain guy or gal is are preceded by couples living together have a fifty-percent higher divorce rate that those which are not. Of the 60 couples who get married, approximately 45 of them will end up getting a divorce. That means that only 15 couples out of the original 100 make it.
Cohabitation is almost a guarantee for failure.
The reason individuals choose to cohabit before marriage is because one or both parties want the benefits of marriage without the commitment - pleasure without responsibility. The argument that marriage is only a piece of paper doesn't hold up. It's not the piece of paper that's bothersome. The commitment which the paper represents is where the problem lies. This is what one or both of them want to avoid.