Imagine being married to the person you love and still not being able to hold legal and financial benefits for taxes, retirement, property ownership, inheritance, auto insurance rates, family and medical care, even car rentals?

But for the thousands of gay and lesbian couples flocking to San Francisco to get married, whether they’ll be granted the rights and privileges that come with marriage is up in the air. Meanwhile, registered domestic partners in California currently have 15 of the same rights as married couples, such as hospital visitation and the ability to make medical decisions for an harmed partner.

An unmarried couple pays about 22 percent more for car insurance than married one; insurers may require one partner to be treated as a renter. Life insurance firms can challenge one partner’s “insurable interest” in the other.

When one partner dies, the law offers little consolation for a surviving same-sex partner. Gay-rights advocates tell distressing stories of people who lost their homes and were left destitute after a partner of many years died. Often they were hit with huge tax bills for their partner’s estate — married couples inherit from each other tax-free — and weren’t entitled to inherit Social Security or federal pensions.

Ironically though, even with so many disadvantages to same sex marriages in the USA  starry-eyed couples still mass at City Hall seeming acutely aware of  how an unmarried state penalizes them, even though that’s not why they’re lining up to wed.

Damage directly attributable to poor maintenance by the home-owner can create a dispute with the insurer; an insurer may deny a claim if maintenance duties are neglected and as a result suffers damage to the property and contents.

FNB Insurance Brokers and a company known for proactive advice to the consumer warn that the consequences of the rainy season can cause damage to the property of homeowners.

FNBIB General Manager, Marketing Debbie Barret says the pitfall to watch involves gutters, down-pipes and drains and a provision in many household insurance policies that obliges the consumer to keep property well maintained and in a good state of repair.

“This means that you, the householder, have to meet the repair bill – perhaps because water seeped into your ceiling, down your walls and into your home after gutters became blocked and rainwater was unable to flow away.”

Leaf growth is another potential problem as leaves are a frequent cause of blockages in gutters and down-pipes at this time of year.

Home-owners are also advised to carry out a constant inspection of gutters and clear away any vegetation and material that might cause a blockage. Drainage channels or areas near the home where water could build up could be potential problems in future.