Relationships/Spouses

**Spouses** are the next step after finding a date and eventually getting engaged. First, they must propose marriage and the partner must accept or vice-versa. The wedding can be planned as quickly or as patiently as possible but after about 3 years of engagement, the character's fiance/fiancee will demand the wedding. If your characters are in a same-sex relationship in countries where same-sex marriage is not legal, they may be engaged but unable to marry as it is against the law. They may emigrate to another country where it is legal, but will immediately get arrested for their relationship if they emigrate back to their original country. If the characters are under 18 when they were engaged, they must wait until they are 18 to marry. Characters can make love at age 17 but often times their partner will not be in the mood. Some partners will insist to wait until marriage, while others may ask whether to make love before marriage. Spouses may take money without asking and your character may ignore it, demand it back, argue with them, or divorce them.

## Wedding

Your character will propose or be proposed to with a ring of their choice and a location. NOTE: Proposing with a ring will increase your chances of acceptance but proposing with no ring is better than proposing with a fake ring. Spouses with higher smarts are more likely to notice the ring is fake. Before your character is officially married, your character will plan a wedding and choose a honeymoon destination, if they choose to have a honeymoon. Honeymoon destinations can be a city in a country or can be a certain place or event. They will also decide whether to sign a prenup, or whether to agree to a prenup if their partner makes them sign one. They can also decide whether to keep, hyphenate, or change their surname if they live in a country that lets them decide.

## Difference between a relationship and marriage

When a character is married, the spouse is usually more likely to be willing to have children and more willing to make love, as some characters may want to save until marriage to do so. They may be somewhat easier to convince to stop using birth control or may be more open to not using it although some may argue. They will be easier to maintain a high relationship with. On the contrary, they may argue more and show more cattiness. If it has been at least 10 years of marriage and the relationship is at a high level, a couple may renew their vows. Vow renewals are recommended at least 10 years after the previous vow renewal as the spouse will likely not do it before. If a partner has children from a previous relationship, they will not become step-children and not be interacted with until marriage.

## Divorce

If the character does not want to be married to their spouse anymore, they may divorce,but could have to pay money to their spouse unless they signed a prenuptial agreement. Less commonly, the spouse may have to pay them the money if the judge rules in the character's favor. A character who has hyphenated or changed their spouse's surname may decide to switch back to their original surname or to keep the hyphenated or changed surname. Your character will no longer be the step-parent of any step-children they had. Ex-spouses will show up in the exes tab. It is possible to get back together with an ex-spouse but only if they have a high relationship in the exes tab. Ex-spouses that have gotten back together with your character will not be remarried to them unless your character gets re-engaged and has another wedding again.

## Widowing

If a spouse dies, they may leave an inheritance to the character. Some spouses may not leave an inheritance if they are poor or had a low relationship with the character. A murdered spouse is less likely to leave an inheritance. A character who has changed their surname to their late spouse will still keep their surname. Spouses of your dead character can have all or some inheritance in the character's Will/Testament if your character chose to give all the money to the spouse or chose "Divide evenly". Late spouses will show up in the "Exes" tab with any late partners, late spouses, or late exes. If a spouse is kidnapped and unable to be saved, they will be presumed dead after disappearing and leave an inheritance. Your character will usually be responsible for the funeral and resting place of a deceased spouse. If they choose to plan the funeral; they will also decide whether to bury, cremate, taxidermise, or donate the body to science, each with a cost. Some spouses will have a wish on how they would like to rest and your character could obey their wishes or choose not to.