Recently, the expression “guest marriage” has been increasingly used. Sounds strange, doesn't it ?! And this is not at all a civil marriage in which two people live in the same territory, run a joint household, have children, but do not formalize their relationship.
A guest marriage is a marriage in which people legitimize their relationship. What is its difference from the traditional one? The thing is that a guest (extraterritorial) marriage implies that the spouses reside in different territories. This may be due to the work of one of them in another city or abroad, the need to take care of elderly or sick relatives, the inability to rent a separate shared apartment, etc. But these facts are not always decisive. Often, spouses make this decision consciously. Why is this happening? Yes, because the spouses do not want to change their usual way of life, ways of doing life, give up free time, etc.
The guest marriage, oddly enough, has advantages over the usual traditional one. Rare meetings bring an element of romance into a relationship, when you look forward to your spouse, get ready and choose the most elegant things. Such relationships fade away much more slowly than in couples who are everywhere and everywhere together. True, all this can be obtained simply by being in a relationship and not tying the knot of an official marriage.
The guest marriage also has disadvantages. Couples living in such a tandem are usually not as close mentally as people living under the same roof. It is much more difficult to solve financial issues, being on opposite sides of the problem. And, of course, children. How to have a child living in different territories. Which of the parents will carry out the upbringing, and who will provide financial support. And, most importantly, how to explain to the kid why mom and dad do not live together.
