Seven states and the District of Columbia still allow couples to form a new common law marriage, and another seven recognize common law marriages that were established before a cutoff date. The common law marriage states currently accepting new unions are Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island (through the end of 2025), Texas, and DC, with Utah and New Hampshire recognizing something similar under tight limits. No state treats living together, by itself, as a marriage, regardless of how long it lasts.
The Seven-Year Rule Does Not Exist
The most persistent misconception about common law marriage is that seven years of cohabitation automatically creates one. No state has ever had a seven-year rule. Cohabitation alone never produces marital status anywhere in the country. Every recognizing jurisdiction requires a mutual, present-tense agreement to be married combined with publicly presenting yourselves as spouses. A couple that shares a home for thirty years without those elements is not married. A couple in a recognizing state who meets all the requirements could form a common law marriage after living together for a single day.
States That Currently Allow New Common Law Marriages
The jurisdictions below permit couples to enter a new common law marriage today. Requirements vary, and a few states impose conditions that meaningfully change the picture.
Colorado. Both partners must be at least 18, and the marriage cannot violate any other state prohibition such as bigamy. Colorado has recognized common law marriage for well over a century, and a 2006 statute formalized the age requirement.1Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes 14-2-109.5 – Common Law Marriage
Iowa. Recognition rests on case law rather than statute. The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld common law marriage for over a century, holding that the marriage licensing statutes are “merely directory” and that the absence of a license does not invalidate a union where the other elements exist.
Kansas. Recognized by statute. The sole restriction is that neither party may be under 18.2Kansas State Legislature. Kansas Statutes 23-2502 – Common-law Marriage
Montana. The state’s marriage code explicitly provides that common law marriages are not invalidated by its licensing and ceremony requirements.3Montana State Legislature. Montana Code Annotated 40-1-403 – Validity of Common-law Marriage
Oklahoma. No statute explicitly authorizes common law marriage, and state law technically requires a marriage license. Oklahoma courts have nonetheless upheld common law marriages through decades of case law, creating a gap between the statute books and actual practice.
Texas. Texas calls these “informal marriages” and offers two paths. Couples can sign a Declaration of Informal Marriage with any county clerk, or they can prove the marriage through evidence of an agreement to be married, cohabitation in Texas, and public representation as spouses. Both partners must be at least 18 and not currently married to anyone else.4State of Texas. Texas Family Code 2.401 – Proof of Informal Marriage
District of Columbia. DC recognizes common law marriage through longstanding judicial precedent. Couples must show a present-tense mutual agreement to be married and cohabitation as spouses.
Utah and New Hampshire: Recognition With Strings
Two states allow something that resembles common law marriage but is not the traditional version.
Utah does not recognize common law marriage in the usual sense. A couple can petition a court or administrative body to have their relationship recognized as a valid “unsolemnized marriage.” Both partners must be of legal age, legally able to marry, cohabiting, assuming marital rights and duties, and publicly known as a married couple. The critical catch: the petition must be filed while the relationship is ongoing or within one year after it ends.5Utah Legislature. Utah Code 30-1-4.5 – Validity of Marriage Not Solemnized Miss that window and the relationship cannot be recognized after the fact.6State of Utah Judiciary. Judicial Recognition of a Relationship as a Marriage
New Hampshire recognizes common law marriage only after one partner dies. Under RSA 457:39, two people who lived together, acknowledged each other as spouses, and were generally known in their community as married for at least three years before one of them died are treated as legally married. Recognition exists only to protect the surviving partner’s inheritance rights and access to survivor benefits, and it provides no legal protection during the couple’s lifetime.7New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 457-39 – Cohabitation
States That Recognize Only Pre-Existing Common Law Marriages
Several states have ended common law marriage going forward but continue to honor unions validly formed before the cutoff date. These grandfathered marriages carry exactly the same legal weight as ceremonial marriages, do not weaken over time, and can only be ended by a formal divorce.
- Ohio: no new common law marriages after October 10, 1991. Unions formed before that date, and valid common law marriages from other states, remain recognized.8Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3105 – Section 3105.12
- Idaho: cutoff of January 1, 1996. The state now requires both a license and solemnization, but pre-existing common law unions remain valid.9Idaho State Legislature. Idaho Code 32-201 – What Constitutes Marriage – No Common-law Marriage After January 1, 1996
- Georgia: cutoff of January 1, 1997.10Justia. Georgia Code 19-3-1.1 – Common-Law Marriage Effectiveness
- Pennsylvania: cutoff of January 1, 2005.
- Alabama: cutoff of January 1, 2017.11Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 30-1-20 – Common-Law Marriage Abolished
- South Carolina: the state Supreme Court abolished prospective common law marriage on July 24, 2019 in Stone v. Thompson, ruling that “the time has come to join the overwhelming national trend and abolish it.” Marriages established before that date remain valid.12Justia. Stone v. Thompson
- Rhode Island: after decades of recognition through judicial precedent, a 2025 statute abolishes new common law marriages effective January 1, 2026, while preserving those already established or adjudicated before that date.
What Courts Actually Require
The elements vary slightly by state, but the same core ingredients show up across every recognizing jurisdiction.
Legal capacity. Both partners must be old enough (18 in every current recognizing state) and free from any existing marriage. If either person is still legally married to someone else, no common law marriage can form until that prior marriage ends by divorce, annulment, or death.
A present-tense agreement to be married. This is the element that separates common law spouses from long-term partners. The agreement must be mutual and current, not a plan for the future. Courts distinguish sharply between “we are married” and “we intend to marry someday.”
Cohabitation. The couple must live together. Some states treat this as a strict requirement, others as strong evidence. No state imposes a minimum duration, which is why the seven-year story is so misleading.
Public representation as spouses. Most disputes turn on this. Courts look for practical evidence: joint tax returns, a shared last name, listing each other as spouses on insurance or bank accounts, introducing one another as husband or wife, and generally living in a way that signals a marriage to neighbors, family, and institutions.
Timing Matters for Proof
Proving a common law marriage existed usually becomes critical during a breakup or after a death, and delay can be fatal. Texas creates a rebuttable presumption that no marriage agreement existed if no legal action is filed within two years of the couple’s separation.4State of Texas. Texas Family Code 2.401 – Proof of Informal Marriage Utah’s one-year filing deadline after the relationship ends creates a similar pressure point.5Utah Legislature. Utah Code 30-1-4.5 – Validity of Marriage Not Solemnized
Moving to a State That Does Not Allow Common Law Marriage
A common law marriage validly formed in a recognizing state generally remains valid when the couple moves to a state that no longer permits new ones. The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires states to honor the legal acts and judicial proceedings of other states, and most states apply the principle to out-of-state marriages.13Constitution Annotated. ArtIV.S1.1 Overview of Full Faith and Credit Clause
The practice is more consistent than the doctrine. The Supreme Court has not directly ruled that Full Faith and Credit compels every state to recognize every out-of-state marriage in every circumstance, but states almost uniformly honor validly formed marriages from other jurisdictions. Federal agencies look to the law of the state where the marriage was created, not where the couple currently lives.14Social Security Administration. POMS GN 00305.060 – Common-Law Marriage – General Keep documentation: joint tax returns, affidavits, shared account records, and any written evidence of your marital agreement all help if the marriage is ever challenged.
Federal Benefits and Common Law Marriage
Federal agencies generally respect state determinations, but each applies its own framework for deciding which state’s law controls.
Social Security. The SSA recognizes a common law marriage if it was valid under the law of the state where it was contracted. To claim spousal or survivor benefits, expect the SSA to require your own written statement, a statement from one of your blood relatives, and two statements from blood relatives of the other spouse, along with corroborating documents such as insurance policies, mortgage records, or bank records.14Social Security Administration. POMS GN 00305.060 – Common-Law Marriage – General
FMLA. The Family and Medical Leave Act defines “spouse” to include a partner in a common law marriage entered into in a recognizing state. If your common law marriage was valid where formed, your employer must treat you as a spouse for FMLA leave, even if you now live in a state that no longer permits new common law marriages.15eCFR. 29 CFR 825.102 – Definitions Unmarried domestic partners and those in civil unions do not qualify as spouses under FMLA.16U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28L – Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
VA benefits. The VA looks to the law of the state where the couple lived at the time of the marriage or when the right to benefits accrued. A narrow exception applies: if a partner entered into what they believed was a valid marriage without knowing about a legal impediment, the VA may still deem the marriage valid for benefits purposes if the couple cohabited continuously until the veteran’s death and no legal spouse has filed a competing claim.
Ending a Common Law Marriage
There is no such thing as a common law divorce. A valid common law marriage is legally identical to a ceremonial marriage, and ending it requires the same formal divorce process: filing a petition, dividing property, resolving support, and settling custody for any children. Simply separating, moving apart, or dropping a shared last name does not end the marriage. Until a court grants a divorce, both parties remain legally married with all the obligations that entails, including potential liability for each other’s debts and the inability to legally marry someone else.