trying to decide

Hello there ,
I am hoping to maybe find some people who might have been in this same situation (or something close) - or just others that may have some advice to give me.

Little bit of info : I'm 29 , he is 26
I have been with my fiance now for over 8 years , and 5 of these we have been engaged. We have never been married yet , and we have decided that it is not going to happen at all.
Basically he has way too much debt that he doesn't want me to have to deal with in the event of his passing - and I have some of my own ... with the same situation.
Right now in our lives - it would hurt us badly financially to officially join being that we are both self employeed and have so much debt singly.

We have decided to have a special ceremony just for the two of us- celebrating our love for one another ... complete with a cake / some verses said to each other and will be filming it to give to our families Basically a commitment ceremony without it all being official and having a marriage certificate.

One thing , personally that I am going to really miss about all of this is the ability to take his name.
I just feel that - brings us another step closer and .. is something pretty special to me.
I just know that I will not be with anyone else in my life ... and so I would like to have everything center around the life we are making for ourselves. Including being able to associate my name with his.

I am wondering if there is anyway possible that I could change my name - just by going through the normal name changing process ..... and still be protected from ever being liable for his debts in the future (or visa versa).

I even talked with him about actual marriage with something like a legal document stating that our debts are separate even in the event of either of us passing ... but it seemed too scary and who knows what kind of loopholes could be waiting for us.

Thank you all so much for your help , i'm looking forward to reading any and all replies.

KMDillon

These are questions for an actual attorney for sure but anyone can legally change their name and without a marriage certificate you shouldn't be tied to him. But if you're going to be living together you will eventually have a common law marriage and I'm not sure what the consequences of that would be. So definitely talk to a lawyer.

sisters359

I agree; you could be liable if you are judged to have a common law marriage. In many cases, however, incorporating a business protects a surviving spouse from the debts of the corporation--but you REALLY need to talk to a lawyer. Usually personal property, such as a family home, cannot be taken for business debts. So check into it and see if you can protect yourselves legally from each other's business debts.

As for name change, there should be no reason you cannot take his name as a legal name change. If it's important to you, then do it.