@poisonedantidote – Marriage benefits for married couples? Umm…ever heard of the Marriage Tax? Perhaps you aren’t in the US.. because in the US it is actually beneficial to NOT be married here (from a taxation perspective).
I agree with you that something seems odd about this—but it’s likely because of the highly Roman Catholic population in Mexico where sex outside of marriage is strongly frowned upon.
Think of it this way: if you lived in a nation where, culturally, pre-marital sex was so deeply frowned upon that you were forced into marriage at a young age…then perhaps legislation like this would be a lovely loophole for your 20s. You could be “married” to each of your partners for a short duration and have the blessings of both the church and the State (Gov’t) —because you weren’t having sex out of wedlock.
I went to an uber-religious high school and had classmates that married at 18 because raging hormones made marriage look like a good idea (because they couldn’t have sex until they were married). It’s the rare 18 year old that has the maturity to successfully pick a mate (and grow together with them and remain married) for a lifetime. Perhaps a “term marriage’ would be a better option for those scenarios.
Not saying it makes sense to me—just saying, it might be a way around this particular religious/cultural issue in Mexico.