Individually Negotiated Marriage Contracts

Part of the problem with the concept of a "marriage" is that it defines a contract between individuals without defining its terms. As a result, people enter into said contracts with completely different expectations -- a sure recipe for disappointment and conflict. Why not define the expectations for the marriage explicitly and up front? Custom marriage contracts could include terms such as:

- Expected number of children

- Expected amount of income each partner is expected to generate

- Expected frequency of sexual intercourse, as well as any important information about the nature of that intercourse ("Barbara shall never be required to kiss Mr. Willy.")

- Whether or not occasional infidelities are to be tolerated ("Twice per year on business trips. Never with any of Barbara's friends or relatives.").

- Miscellaneous (but important!) terms ("Bob shall not squeeze the toothpaste from the middle. Barabara shall not refer to Mr. Willy as 'your little worm'.").

Terms of the contract could be linked to each other ("Bob shall be guaranteed one additional infidelity per $25,000 over $100,000 gross income that he brings in per year").

Key to the success of this idea is that the process should have an extremely lightweight process for renegotiating its terms. For instance, when the family begins buying toothpaste in hard plastic pump dispensers, Barbara should be able to renegotiate to get Bob to seek help for his snoring instead. Perhaps the contract could be updated online without assistance from a lawyer, as long as both parties can agree on the updated terms.