Ten U.S. jurisdictions still let couples form a common law marriage: Colorado, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire (for inheritance only), Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. The states with common law marriage each set their own conditions, and a couple who meets the bar in one state may not meet it in another. Where the marriage is valid, it carries the same legal weight as a ceremonial one: identical rights to property, inheritance, benefits, and medical decision-making.
Every other state either never recognized common law marriage or has since abolished it. Living together for years in a non-recognizing state, no matter how committed the relationship, does not produce a marriage.
The Jurisdictions That Still Recognize It
Colorado. Both partners must be at least 18, and the marriage cannot violate any other prohibition such as bigamy or close family relationships. The age floor took effect for marriages entered on or after September 1, 2006.1Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 14-2-109.5 – Common Law Marriage
District of Columbia. Requires an express mutual agreement, using present-tense words, to become permanent partners with the same commitment as a ceremonial marriage, followed by cohabitation.2Social Security Administration. POMS PR 05605.010 – District of Columbia
Iowa. Recognized by statute and case law, with no explicit age restriction beyond general marriage law.
Kansas. Recognized, but neither party can be under 18.3Kansas Legislature. Kansas Statutes 23-2502 – Common-Law Marriage
Montana. Not explicitly authorized by statute, but also not prohibited or invalidated under state marriage law.
New Hampshire. The narrowest form of recognition in the country. A couple qualifies only if they cohabited, acknowledged each other as spouses, and were generally known as married for at least three years and until the death of one partner. This recognition exists solely for inheritance and estate purposes.4New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Revised Statutes 457:39 – Cohabitation
Oklahoma. Recognized through longstanding case law, with the standard requirements of agreement, cohabitation, and public reputation as married.
Rhode Island. Currently recognizes common law marriage. Legislation introduced in 2025 would abolish it effective January 1, 2026, while preserving marriages established before that date.
South Carolina. Recognized through case law. The South Carolina Supreme Court clarified in 2019 that the essential element is mutual intent to be married, proven by clear and convincing evidence.5Justia Law. Stone v. Thompson – 2019 – South Carolina Supreme Court
Texas. Referred to in statute as “informal marriage.” A couple can prove it by showing they agreed to be married, lived together in Texas as spouses, and represented to others that they were married.6State of Texas. Texas Family Code 2-401 – Proof of Informal Marriage
Utah. Requires a court or administrative order validating the marriage. To qualify, the couple must have cohabited, mutually taken on marital duties, and been generally known in their community as married. The petition must be filed during the relationship or within one year after it ends.7Utah Legislature. Utah Code 30-1-4.5 – Validation of Marriage Not Solemnized
What Every Recognizing State Requires
Wording differs, but three elements appear in nearly every jurisdiction. Miss any one of them and no marriage exists.
A Present Agreement to Be Married
Both partners must genuinely intend to be married to each other right now, not someday. The agreement can be spoken rather than written, but it has to be mutual. If one partner thinks the relationship is a marriage and the other doesn’t, there is no common law marriage. Courts look at whether both partners understood and shared the intention, not whether either of them knew the legal requirements.5Justia Law. Stone v. Thompson – 2019 – South Carolina Supreme Court
Holding Out as Married
The couple must consistently present themselves to others as spouses. Courts look at the whole picture of how the relationship was represented to family, friends, and the community: sharing a last name, filing joint tax returns, listing each other as spouses on insurance policies, signing leases or loan documents as a married couple, and introducing each other as husband or wife. One offhand remark at a party isn’t enough. Courts want a pattern.
Cohabitation
Every recognizing state requires the couple to live together, but no state sets a minimum number of years, with the single exception of New Hampshire’s three-year requirement for its posthumous inheritance rule. What matters is the character of the shared life, not the calendar. A couple that lives together for six months while fully presenting as married has a stronger claim than one that shares an address for a decade while keeping finances, benefits, and public identity separate. Longer cohabitation does naturally produce more evidence.
Legal Capacity
Both partners must be legally eligible to marry: of sound mind, not already married to someone else, and not closely related. Colorado and Kansas set a minimum age of 18 for common law marriage specifically; other states apply their general marriage-age rules.1Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 14-2-109.5 – Common Law Marriage3Kansas Legislature. Kansas Statutes 23-2502 – Common-Law Marriage Following Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry, and that right extends to common law marriage in states that recognize it.
States That Used to Allow It
Several states formerly recognized common law marriage but have since closed the door on new ones. Marriages formed before the cutoff remain fully valid; marriages attempted after do not exist. The main cutoffs:
- Alabama: No new common law marriages after January 1, 2017.8Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 30-1-20 – Common-Law Marriage Abolished
- Pennsylvania: No new common law marriages after January 1, 2005.
- Georgia: No new common law marriages after January 1, 1997.
- Ohio: No new common law marriages entered on or after October 10, 1991.
- Florida: No new common law marriages after January 1, 1968.
- Indiana: No new common law marriages after January 1, 1958.
If you believe you established a common law marriage in one of these states, the deciding question is whether all the requirements were met before the cutoff date. Every other state that isn’t on the recognizing list has either never allowed common law marriage or abolished it earlier.
What Happens If You Move
A common law marriage validly formed in a recognizing state generally travels with the couple. The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires each state to honor the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of other states, and most states will recognize a common law marriage lawfully formed elsewhere.9Congress.gov. Overview of Full Faith and Credit Clause
In practice, the process isn’t always clean. A state that never allowed common law marriage may have no clear procedure for verifying one, and couples can face pushback on insurance, property transfers, or medical decisions. A court order from the original state, where available, makes recognition elsewhere much easier. Without it, you may end up litigating the marriage’s existence in a state whose courts have little experience with the question.
Proving the Marriage Exists
Because no marriage certificate is issued, proof becomes the whole game if the marriage is ever challenged in a divorce, a benefits claim, or an inheritance dispute. South Carolina’s Supreme Court set the standard at clear and convincing evidence, and while wording varies by state, the practical reality everywhere is the same: you need a paper trail.5Justia Law. Stone v. Thompson – 2019 – South Carolina Supreme Court
Evidence that typically carries weight:
- Joint bank accounts, mortgages, or leases listing both partners
- Jointly filed tax returns
- Insurance policies or retirement accounts naming the other person as a spouse or beneficiary
- Shared utility bills and household expenses
- Testimony from family and friends confirming the couple held themselves out as married
- Use of a shared last name on official documents
- Written statements, letters, or social media posts referring to the other person as a spouse
Texas adds a time trap: if you don’t file a proceeding to prove the marriage within two years of the date you separated and stopped living together, a court will presume you were never married. That presumption can be overcome, but it puts you at a serious disadvantage. Utah, as noted, requires an order and applies its own one-year post-relationship deadline.7Utah Legislature. Utah Code 30-1-4.5 – Validation of Marriage Not Solemnized
How Federal Agencies Treat It
Federal programs generally recognize a common law marriage if the state where it was formed recognizes it. That has real consequences.
Taxes. The IRS sets filing status based on whether you were married on the last day of the tax year.10Internal Revenue Service. Filing Status A valid common law marriage means you must file as married filing jointly or married filing separately, not as single. The IRS has held since 1958 that a common law marriage valid where it was formed governs your federal filing status regardless of where you currently live.11Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2013-17
Social Security. The Social Security Administration will pay spousal and survivor benefits based on a common law marriage, but you must prove the marriage satisfies the law of the state where it was formed.12Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.726 – Evidence of Common-Law Marriage
Immigration. USCIS recognizes common law marriages for immigration and naturalization purposes when the marriage was valid under the law of the state where it was established, even if the applicant now lives in a state that doesn’t recognize common law marriage.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Marriage and Marital Union for Naturalization
One point worth being direct about: there is no such thing as a common law divorce. Once the marriage exists, ending it requires a formal divorce, same as any other marriage. Moving apart doesn’t end it, and neither does one partner declaring it over.