Samboer

I just remembered that I am suppose to write a post to describe the concept of 同居 (Samboerskap in Norwegian) in Norway.

Unlike HK or US, where people live together to see if they are compatible before marriage, Norwegians get into "Samboerskap" for as long they want. (I have had co-workers who are in this for 20+ years.)

How do you define that? You are officially in "Samboerskap" if you and your partner have the same registered address or you two have a child together.

Interesting enough we actually talked about this at lunch today. One asked if there is a difference between "Samboerskap" and marriage, the answer was simply it takes more paperwork to depart. Other than that, there are basically no difference. Well...... not quite.

If you are married, and you want to file a divorce, you have to split EVERYTHING half half. Where as if you are not married, and if you want to depart, you just have to share everything you accumulate during the time you two are together. That's why people think thrice before they get married.

Among my 20 classmates from middle school. 10 already have children but just three (including myself) is married as of today. So the concept of "Samboerskap" has kept both the marriage and divorce rate low in Norway.