A common law marriage is a legally recognized marriage that a couple creates without a license or ceremony by agreeing to be married, living together, and presenting themselves publicly as spouses. Only seven states and the District of Columbia still let couples form one today, and two more states recognize a narrower version. Where it’s valid, it carries the same rights and obligations as any other marriage, including the requirement of a formal divorce to end it.
Where You Can Still Enter One
As of 2026, seven states and the District of Columbia permit new common law marriages: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Texas. Each sets its own rules, but all share the same core: the couple must agree to be married now, live together, and hold themselves out to the world as spouses.
Utah handles it differently. You can’t simply declare yourselves common-law married. A court or administrative body has to issue an order confirming the relationship meets all the legal requirements, and the petition must be filed while the relationship is ongoing or within one year after it ends.1Utah Legislature. Utah Code 30-1-4.5 – Validity of Marriage Not Solemnized
New Hampshire is narrower still. The state recognizes a common law marriage only after one partner dies. If two people lived together and were generally known as spouses for at least three years before one passed away, the survivor is treated as a legal spouse for inheritance and estate purposes.2New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes 457:39
States That Recently Closed the Door
Several states have abolished common law marriage while preserving unions that already existed. Alabama ended the creation of new ones as of January 1, 2017; anything valid before that date remains legally recognized.3Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 30-1-20 – Common-Law Marriage Abolished South Carolina’s Supreme Court did the same in July 2019 in Stone v. Thompson, applying the ruling prospectively so earlier common law marriages stayed intact.4Justia Law. Stone v Thompson – 2019 South Carolina Supreme Court Decisions
Older abolitions follow the same pattern. Georgia stopped recognizing new common law marriages formed on or after January 1, 1997.5Justia Law. Georgia Code 19-3-1.1 – Common-Law Marriage Ohio set its cutoff at October 10, 1991, and also recognizes common law marriages validly formed in other states.6Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3105 Pennsylvania drew its line at January 1, 2005.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 23 – Domestic Relations
If you believe you formed one before your state’s cutoff date, that union is still legally valid. You may need evidence to prove it was established in time, which makes documentation especially important for couples in these states.
What Actually Makes a Common Law Marriage Valid
Start with the biggest myth. Living together for seven years does not create a common law marriage. No state has ever required a specific number of years of cohabitation. Iowa’s administrative code puts it plainly: “No special time limit is necessary to establish a common law marriage.”8Iowa Legislature. Iowa Administrative Code 441-62.19 – Common Law Marriage A couple that meets every legal element could be common-law married within months, and a couple that has shared a home for decades without the right intent may have no marital status at all.
Legal Capacity
Both partners have to be legally eligible to marry: at least 18 years old, mentally capable of understanding what marriage means, and not already married to someone else. Colorado requires both parties to be 18 or older for any common law marriage entered into on or after September 1, 2006.9Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes 14-2-109.5 Kansas uses the same age floor.10Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Kansas Statutes 23-2502 – Common-Law Marriage Texas prohibits anyone under 18 from being a party to an informal marriage or signing a declaration of one.11State of Texas. Texas Family Code 2.401 – Proof of Informal Marriage
An undissolved prior marriage voids any new union, common law or otherwise. Finalize the divorce first, no matter how long you’ve been separated.
A Present Agreement to Be Married
Both partners must share a current, mutual intent to be married. This is the element that trips up the most couples, because casual cohabitation doesn’t count no matter how long it lasts. “We’ll get married someday” or “after we buy a house” is a future promise, not a present agreement. The commitment has to be in the present tense: we are married.
Timing matters, too. In Texas, if a couple separates and no one files a legal proceeding within two years, a court will presume they never agreed to be married at all. That presumption can be rebutted, but the burden shifts to the person claiming the marriage existed.11State of Texas. Texas Family Code 2.401 – Proof of Informal Marriage
Cohabitation and Public Reputation
The couple must live together as spouses and present themselves that way to the outside world. Living under the same roof isn’t enough on its own, and neither is telling a few friends you consider yourselves married. The relationship needs to look like a marriage from the outside: shared living space, a general reputation in the community as a married couple, and consistent behavior backing that up. Iowa’s rule captures the standard, requiring “a public declaration by the parties or a holding out to the public that they are spouses.”8Iowa Legislature. Iowa Administrative Code 441-62.19 – Common Law Marriage
Common signals include sharing a last name, introducing each other as husband or wife to neighbors and coworkers, filing joint tax returns, and listing each other as spouses on insurance or employment forms. The more consistently a couple presents this way across different areas of life, the stronger the case.
How to Prove Your Common Law Marriage
Without a marriage certificate on file, couples often need to assemble their own proof when an employer, insurance company, government agency, or court asks. The strongest cases combine several kinds of documentation that show both the intent and the public presentation over time.
Financial and Administrative Records
Joint federal tax returns filed as married filing jointly are among the most persuasive documents, because they reflect how the couple represented their status to the federal government under penalty of perjury. Joint bank accounts, shared credit cards, and utility bills listing both names at the same address help show a unified household. Mortgages or leases signed by both partners give direct evidence of cohabitation. Life insurance policies and retirement accounts that name the other partner as a spouse beneficiary carry significant weight, as do birth certificates listing both individuals as parents of a child.
Formal Declarations
Texas offers a specific government form. The Declaration and Registration of Informal Marriage is filed with the county clerk, and both partners swear under oath that they agreed to be married, lived together in Texas as a married couple, and represented themselves to others as married.12Texas Department of State Health Services. Declaration and Registration of Informal Marriage VS-180 Filing this creates an official record of the marriage and eliminates most later evidentiary disputes.
Couples in other states can use an affidavit of common law marriage, a sworn written statement affirming the relationship. These affidavits typically require notarized signatures and include the date the couple agreed to be married, how long they’ve lived together, and the ways they’ve held themselves out as spouses. Many employers and health insurance providers accept them when deciding whether to extend spousal coverage.
Federal Taxes and Social Security
The IRS recognizes common law marriages for federal tax purposes. If your marriage is valid under the law of the state where you live or the state where the marriage began, you can file a joint federal return. Revenue Ruling 2013-17 confirmed that a couple who entered a valid common law marriage in a recognizing state can file jointly even after moving to a state that doesn’t allow one.13Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2013-17 IRS Publication 17 applies the rule based on your status as of December 31 of the tax year.14Internal Revenue Service. Publication 17 – Your Federal Income Tax
Social Security also evaluates common law marriage claims, but the process requires substantial documentation. The agency looks at whether the marriage would be valid under the law of the state where the couple lived together. When a surviving partner applies for survivor benefits, the SSA asks for signed statements from the surviving spouse and from blood relatives of the deceased confirming the relationship.15Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.726 – Evidence of Common-Law Marriage
For detailed claims, the SSA uses Form SSA-754, which asks when and where the couple lived together, whether there was an agreement to be married (written or verbal), how they introduced each other publicly, what names they used, and whether they had joint financial accounts or legal documents. The form is signed under penalty of perjury.16Social Security Administration. Form SSA-754 – Statement of Marital Relationship The level of detail the SSA demands is a strong argument for gathering documentation while both partners are alive, not reconstructing the record after a death.
What Happens If You Move
Most states follow the rule that a marriage validly created in one state remains valid everywhere. A common law marriage formed in Colorado or Texas doesn’t disappear when the couple relocates to California or New York. The new state won’t let its own residents form one, but it will honor the legal relationship you brought with you.17Library of Congress. Constitution of the United States – Article IV Section 1
Keep your evidence organized before the move. Employers, courts, and agencies in a non-recognizing state may be unfamiliar with these claims, and a couple that can quickly produce tax returns, affidavits, or a Texas declaration will face far less friction than one scrambling for proof years later.
Ending a Common Law Marriage
This is where many couples get an unpleasant surprise. Because a valid common law marriage carries the same legal weight as a ceremonial marriage, you can’t end it by moving apart. The only way to dissolve it is through a formal divorce or annulment, and neither partner is free to remarry until a court signs a divorce judgment.
The process starts with filing a divorce petition in the court where you live. From there, the same rules apply as in any divorce: the court divides property, addresses spousal support if appropriate, and makes custody and child support decisions when children are involved. A common law spouse has the same eligibility for alimony as someone who had a traditional wedding.
Couples in states that have abolished common law marriage sometimes hit a preliminary hurdle. If one partner disputes that the marriage existed, the court has to resolve that question before it can grant a divorce, which adds time and cost. Another reason formal documentation matters.
What You Lose If It Doesn’t Qualify
If your relationship doesn’t meet the requirements, or you live in a state that doesn’t recognize common law marriage, none of the automatic protections of marriage apply. The consequences tend to hit hardest at the worst possible moments.
- Inheritance: a married spouse has automatic rights if the other spouse dies without a will. An unmarried partner has no claim to the estate, regardless of how long the couple lived together.
- Property division: when a married couple divorces, the court divides marital property. When an unmarried couple splits up, each person generally keeps only what’s in their own name.
- Health care decisions: a spouse can make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner by default. An unmarried partner cannot, unless a health care power of attorney was signed in advance.
- Spousal support: courts can order alimony when a marriage ends. An unmarried partner who gave up career opportunities to support the household has no equivalent right in most states.
- Federal benefits: Social Security survivor benefits, veterans’ benefits, and joint tax filing all depend on a recognized marital status. Without it, a surviving partner may receive nothing.
For couples who live together in non-recognizing states or aren’t sure they meet the common law requirements, the safer path is to build the legal protections manually through wills, powers of attorney, property agreements, and beneficiary designations. These documents don’t replicate every benefit of marriage, but they close the most dangerous gaps.