“She was warned by a friend to never marry the man she loved.”
Often good advice!! The baggage...
Today, the warning is often due to adult survivor children with at least 2 sets of parents with two retirement systems and varying soc. sec and home ownerships.
A female relative in her early 50’s became a widow. After about a year, she and a widower got together. Most of the relatives on the widow’s side really like her new friend and we often suggested to her to marry him.
Fortunately, a couple of sisters and a cousin like a wise aunt suggested to just stay friends. She listened to the later group.
He died in a vehicle accident, and the children from the 2 previous marriages acted like sharks coming in to feed in the ocean on the dead body/estate. Even some of his siblings joined into the savagery of the feeding frenzy.
The only ones, who made or got money were the lawyers on both sides.
We are now seeing a rerun of this plot locally with a widow and a dead husband with investments.
“the warning is often due to adult survivor children with at least 2 sets of parents”
When I was single I had a rule: Never date a man with children! And I never did. I don’t have any and figured that life and marriage are hard enough already. Bringing that unknown into the equation seemed like a terrible idea.
The man I married had no kids and it was too late age-wise to think about that. So we have cats.
I was thinking only of the children when they were little. I never went farther to consider adult children and those dynamics. Sounds even worse than little kids.