What is נישואין תועלתיים?

They overlap but aren’t identical. An arranged marriage usually involves family or third parties making the match for social or cultural reasons; a marriage of convenience emphasizes pragmatic reasons agreed between the partners (or by circumstances) and often features a temporary or contractual element focused on utility rather than family matchmaking.

Marriages entered for practical reasons are historically and legally real—alliances, inheritance deals, and immigration marriages have all happened. Romance fiction heightens the emotional journey and conflict for dramatic effect, but the structural premise is plausible.

Give both partners equal agency in the agreement, change the power balance (e.g., the less-wealthy character holds the leverage), make the arrangement non-romantic but emotionally supportive, flip expectations about who falls in love first, or set it in an unusual context (spaceship politics, magical contracts, workplace mergers) to keep it surprising.