Common Law Marriage and What It Means For You
Only a few states recognize common law marriage, including Colorado. Common law marriage does not exist in California. No documentation is required to create a common law marriage. Simply living together and having a mutual understanding or agreement between the partners that they are husband and wife may enough to create this marriage. And once married, it’s exactly the same as every other marriage.
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States With Common Law Marriage
Only a few states recognize common law marriage:
- Colorado
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Utah
Qualifications
Even though there are no required documents to be considered married by common law, there are qualifying factors:
- Cohabitation
- Partners must be living together. There is no time minimum for qualification.
- Consent
- Both parties must agree to such an arrangement.
- If only one partner considers the couple married and the other is against it, the partnership is not recognized as common law marriage.
- Reputation within the community
- The community, family, friends and other groups of individuals the couple interacts with must recognize or understand that the couple deems themselves married.
- Intent
- The couple must portray themselves as husband and wife, husband and husband, or wife and wife.
- Cohabitation
What Constitutes As Intent?
In some instances, if the time to separate occurs and one party denies ever entering into such an agreement, such as common law marriage, there are several factors the court will consider in finding validation:
- Owning property together
- Joint bank accounts
- Joint credit cards and other debts
- Joint tax filing
- Spouse’s name on insurance or other benefit forms
- Openly referring to each other as husband or wife
- Wearing rings
- Use of one party’s surname (last name) by the other party or by their children
Do You Need a Divorce to Leave a Common Law Marriage?
The short answer is yes. The only two ways to dissolve a common law marriage are through filing for divorce or the death of one spouse.
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