Japan’s capital has announced it will start recognizing same-sex partnerships to ease the burdens faced by residents in their daily lives, but the unions will not be considered legal marriages.

Support for sexual diversity has grown slowly in Japan, but legal protections are still lacking for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Japan does not legally recognize same-sex marriages, and LGBTQ people often face discrimination at school, work and at home, causing many to hide their sexual identities.

The Tokyo government said applicants for a partnership certificate will be limited to adult residents of the capital but will include foreign nationals.

Tokyo’s metropolitan government will begin accepting registrations in October.

The Shibuya district in Tokyo became the first Japanese municipality to issue partnership certificates in 2015.

Now, about 12% of the country's municipalities have taken similar steps.

Prenups, or pre-nuptial agreements, don't always have the most positive connotation. 

While they are legal agreements entered into by couples before marriage — often to keep finances separate despite being otherwise legally joined  — they can be a touchy subject for couples starting to build a life together.

But that stigma seems to be fading away. A new report from The Harris Poll said that this year, 15% of U.S. adults surveyed signed a prenup, which is up from just 3% in 2010. It also found that 35% of unmarried people say they're likely to sign a prenup in the future.

In the Americas, prenups go back to 17th century Canada, when French colonist men married women who came to the country with financial assistance from King Louis XIV. These women were so highly sought after that they were able to convince their husbands to sign prenups. This came at a time when men outnumbered women, so women had a leg up. Eventually that gender ratio evened out, and prenups went away.

They got popular again in the U.S. much later. A 1970 Florida case Posner v Posner ruled that prenups should be a standard practice.

One big possible factor in their usage today is the fact that millennials now have more debt than previous generations. One survey found that nearly three quarters of millennials have over $100,000 in debt on average, not including mortgages. 

The most common debt is credit card debt followed by student loans. There's also medical debt and personal loans. 

Prenups can protect your partner from taking on your debt in the case of death of divorce. In some states, your spouse can be held accountable for all of your debt acquired during the marriage.

SEE MORE: Weddings Are Back In A Big Way, But They Have A Higher Price Tag

Kelly Chang Rickert is a family law attorney in California who specializes in prenups, and she sees debt come up in divorce cases all the time.  

"It's not unusual for me to have a divorce where one side has a Neiman Marcus card and charged up $70,000, and the other side... they are responsible for half the debt because it was acquired during the marriage," Chang Rickert said.

But the breakdown of who's responsible for what differs from state to state. For instance, some states are community property states, meaning unless you sign a prenup, everything acquired during the marriage must be split 50/50. That's how things work in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

In other states, laws differ. There can be different rules around what makes prenups enforceable. For example, in Connecticut there's a specific window of time between when the prenup is presented and when the marriage happens for it to hold up. So, it's important to see what a state requires beforehand.

Another reason more people could be getting prenups is because they're getting married later in life and have more assets to protect coming into the marriage. According to Pew, in 2019 the average age a man first got married was 30, and for women it was 28. That's three years later for both men and women compared to 2003 and four years later than 1987.

"These days, a lot of people work for themselves," Chang Rickert said. "If you're a social media influencer or you're an artist or you're a writer, a lot of people make money off their creative efforts. So if they have a business coming into the marriage, a lot of them don't want to share that in case it doesn't work out."

This leads to the question of how finances are split. This determines what a prenup could look like. In the 70s and 80s, it was common practice to put all your money into shared accounts with your spouse. But over the past several years, the number of married couples who keep some of their finances separate has risen.

Experts say if couples have a joint account for things they share, they can opt to keep everything else separate, and in the case of divorce, they'll only have to worry about dividing the joint account. But it's important to note that separate accounts won't stay separate unless a prenup is signed stating that.  

"Even if you don't have a prenup, you kind of do: It's called the law," Chang Rickert said. "So if you don't have a prenup, you're just going by what your state law says. California says community property, so your debt is my debt. That's what the state law says. So if you don't like that, then you should craft your own."

SEE MORE: Vendors Are Welcoming The Wedding Boom, But Not Without Obstacles

Rickert Chang recommends getting a prenup ideally a year before your wedding. She also points out a few pros of prenups. For one, the stereotypical scenario we see in movies where a rich guy asks his fiancé to sign a prenup — it could actually be a good thing.  

"If you were smart about it, and the guy's like, 'I want you to sign a prenup saying I don't want community,' then what you could do is you can negotiate it," Chang Rickert said. "You could be like, 'Fine, I won't touch your stuff, but in lieu of that, I would like 50,000 a year or 1,000, 100,000 a year,' and that way you can negotiate, and you can actually get money by agreeing to sign a prenup."

There's also certain professions where it's strongly encouraged to protect the other person. 

"Definitely lawyers or doctors, I think you should always get prenup," Chang Rickert said. "Not just only because it's my business — I don't want you taking half of it, but also it's a business that I can get sued on. So, I would like to protect you from any lawsuits that I might get."

As prenups have become more common, more people have dug into this topic on social media platforms like TikTok. Chang Rickert has an account of her own where she educates people on prenups to help break down myths and stigmas, including that they aren't just for rich people and not just in case of divorce.

Now, there aren't necessarily more divorces now. CDC data shows that divorces declined between 2000 and 2020. 

However in the case of a divorce, not signing a prenup could really pile on to the cost of divorce, which can already be pretty high, costing between $15,000 to $20,000 on average.

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If you’ve made it to your 40th birthday without tying the knot, you’re not alone, according to a recent report from the Pew Research Center.

A look at 2021 U.S. Census Bureau data found a quarter of 40-year-olds in the United States had never been married, the research center announced Wednesday.

The findings were a “significant increase” from the 20% of unmarried 40-year-olds in 2010, according to the study.

The Pew report found that 40-year-old men were more likely not to have been married than women and Black 40-year-olds were “much more likely” to have never wed than their peers of different races.

It also showed people of that age with at least a bachelor’s degree were less likely to have never walked down the aisle than 40-year-olds who had reached fewer educational milestones.

“One-third of those with a high school diploma or less had never married, compared with 26% of those with some college education and 18% of those with a bachelor’s degree or more education,” according to Pew.

The findings, which suggest a shift in Americans’ views of the importance of getting hitched, differed widely to the statistics reported decades ago in 1980, when just 6% of 40-year-olds had never married, Pew reported.

Video below: Weekly Marriage Meetings Might Be the Trick to a Long Lasting Marriage

The research center conducted the analysis to look at how marriage rates have changed among 40-year-olds in the U.S. from 1850 to 2021.

Its findings revealed a downward trend of delaying marriage or foregoing it altogether among people born during or after the 1960s, according to the report.

“In all prior generations of American adults, less than 1 in 5 adults had not tried marriage by age 40,” said Pew senior researcher Richard Fry in an email to CNN.

The new report focused on 40-year-olds to reflect the fact that adults tend to “take stock of their lives at the start of a new decade of life,” Fry said.

“This is somewhat outdated and changing, but fertility and marriage are somewhat related,” he said. “Some women may want to have children in the context of marriage. Since fertility wanes after the age of 40, 40 is an appropriate age to document marriage outcomes.”

About 1 in 4 of the 40-year-olds who were not yet married in 2001 had tied the knot by the time they turned 60, Pew reported.

If the pattern continues, the research center anticipated that “a similar share” of never-married 40-year-olds would also get married in the coming years.

“We are in new territory, so to speak, and we are monitoring how today’s 40-year-olds are faring going forward as they explore new ways to committed relationships,” Fry said.

A 2022 report from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project found the median age of a first marriage has increased over the last 50 years, “from 23 in 1970 to about 30 in 2021 for men, and from 21 in 1970 to 28 in 2021 for women.”

But a later marriage may not necessarily mean a better one: 81% of husbands who married earlier said they were satisfied in their marriages, compared to 71% of those who married later, the report found. There were similar results among women, though with a smaller difference – 73% of earlier-married women were satisfied, compared to 70% of later-married women, the report said.

PROVO, Utah — A woman in Provo, Utah was arrested on Friday after, according to police, she set fire to a shed while her husband and another woman were inside.

The 60-year-old woman now faces charges of aggravated arson. According to a probable cause affidavit, her husband and an unidentified woman were inside a structure on their property when they reportedly began to smell smoke. Once outside the shed the two say they saw the 60-year-old wife "standing near the ignition point of the fire staring at the fire and the occupants of the shed."

A five-gallon gas can was found near the burning shed with no lid, as KSTU reported.

A police report said the man was "cohabitating" with the other woman in the shed.

The 60-year-old wife originally told police that she saw flames and attempted to warn her husband and the other woman inside, but both of the shed's occupants said she did not offer any warning.

After leaving the scene, the wife was found a few blocks away with a butane torch in her possession, police said. Once the woman was taken into custody, a K-9 unit "gave a positive indication on the shoes and pants" worn by the wife, during an "open air search," according to the police report.

This story was originally published by Jeff Tavss of KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah.

An Iowa man pulled off the surprise of a lifetime from his hospital room.Jonathan Johnson was on a ventilator for nearly four weeks fighting COVID-19. After having the vent removed, he wanted to surprise his fiance by getting married in the hospital. The staff then helped him get a cake and take photos, while a friend snuck his fiance Mariah's dress into the hospital. "I was an emotional ball. I was shocked," said Mariah Copeland-Johnson. "I didn't think this would happen that soon, but I'm so happy that it did, so I can spend my forever with the man that I love."The couple has a son who is turning 2 soon. Jonathan can't wait to one day tell their son the unusual way his parents got married. Watch the video above to see pictures from the couple's special day.

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postponed micro or virtual engaged couples have had to be creative and certainly flexible during the pandemic. This Kansas City couple wouldn't let a hospital stay or a covid 19 diagnosis. Stop them from saying, I do not feel away pronouncing Justin, Stephanie, this husband and wife, Stephanie and Justin spent most of the days leading up to their wedding dealing with some ups and downs, including Justin falling ill looking like he's going to get better and came home and then having to bring them right back to the hospital. The day before their nuptials, Justin got a devastating diagnosis. He tested positive for Covid 19 and needed to stay in the hospital. It was heartbreaking. This also meant the wedding was postponed until Stephanie came up with an idea. What do you feel about getting married today from his hospital bed? Justin was totally on board. All this bad stuff just felt like it was just raining down and wanted something really good to come out of it. The nurses quickly became wedding planners and put Stephanie in the hospital chapel, and a family friend officiated the wedding. Justin, do you take Stephanie as your partner, going to treasure life. The point of the day is to be married to the person you love. And that's what we did with our love to you. And while the first kiss looks a bit different, we high five. The couple loved their impromptu ceremony. Ended up being a million times better than I thought it was gonna love, Stephanie. I just felt like a good right time.

Couple has virtual wedding while groom recovers from COVID-19

Impromptu wedding held for couple recovering from COVID-19

Updated: 1:20 PM EST Mar 12, 2021

Stephanie and Justin spent most of the days leading up to their wedding dealing with some ups and downs, including Justin falling ill. The day before their nuptials, Justin got a devastating diagnosis: He tested positive for COVID-19, and needed to stay in the hospital.This also meant the wedding was postponed —that is, until Stephanie came up with an idea.Watch more on this story in the video player above. Stitch brings you heartwarming stories from a community just like yours. It celebrates our hometown heroes and is inspired by communities, revitalized. Stitch is committed to honoring our history, celebrating our potential and highlighting the tales that bring us together. Every day, we are stitching together the American story.Want more stories like these? Follow Stitch on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. —

Stephanie and Justin spent most of the days leading up to their wedding dealing with some ups and downs, including Justin falling ill. The day before their nuptials, Justin got a devastating diagnosis: He tested positive for COVID-19, and needed to stay in the hospital.

This also meant the wedding was postponed —that is, until Stephanie came up with an idea.

Watch more on this story in the video player above.

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Stitch brings you heartwarming stories from a community just like yours. It celebrates our hometown heroes and is inspired by communities, revitalized. Stitch is committed to honoring our history, celebrating our potential and highlighting the tales that bring us together. Every day, we are stitching together the American story.

Want more stories like these? Follow Stitch on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.