Common Law Marriage

A common law marriage is a form of marriage where a couple takes up residency together and holds themselves out to be a married couple, without having a formal ceremony to recognize the marriage (either civil or religious).

It was the original form of how a couple would be married, but after the Council of Trent proclaimed that no marriage in the Catholic Church would be recognized as valid unless solemnized by a priest, would be outlawed in most predominantly-Catholic countries, and eventually in predominantly-Protestant ones as well.

It has become an increasingly obsolete form of marriage; in the United States it is fully recognized only under provision of military law and in eight jurisdictions^[1] along with two other states which allow it for limited purposes^[2]. Otherwise, it has either never been recognized, abolished (but such marriages entered into before abolition are recognized), or recognized if validly entered into under the laws of another state (as required by the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution).

In those limited areas where valid, the following are generally required:

• The parties must be of a certain age^[3],
• The parties must have an agreement to be married,
• The parties must cohabit for a period of time within the state where the common-law marriage takes place^[4], and
• The parties must represent themselves to others as married^[5]

Under Federal income tax law, a couple entering into a valid common law marriage can file a joint tax return^[6].

Since divorce was not legal under the common law, there is no similar provision for "common law divorce". Generally a common-law married couple must divorce in the same manner as a formally-married couple, but some states allow the couple to walk away without formal proceedings, requiring them only to prove a valid marriage existed^[7].

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