When Did Common Law Marriage End by State? Dates and Proof

Common law marriage ended on different dates in different states, with the earliest cutoff in Illinois after June 30, 1905, and the most recent in South Carolina on July 24, 2019. Eighteen states that once allowed couples to marry without a license or ceremony have since set a specific abolition date, and marriages formed before that date remain legally valid. The question of when common law marriage ended by state matters mostly for one reason: if you and your partner began living as married before your state’s cutoff, you may still be legally married today, with all the rights and obligations that status carries.

Abolition Dates by State

The following states permitted common law marriage at one time and later ended the practice. The date shown is the cutoff: a common law marriage validly formed before that date is still recognized; one that would have formed on or after it is not.

South Carolina is the one state on this list where abolition came from a court rather than the legislature. In Stone v. Thompson, the state’s Supreme Court ruled prospectively that no new common law marriages could be formed without a license, concluding that the legal foundations of the doctrine had eroded and that its outcomes were too unpredictable to justify keeping it.9Justia Law. Stone v. Thompson Every other state ended the practice by statute.

Marriages Formed Before the Cutoff Are Still Valid

Every state that abolished common law marriage grandfathered in marriages formed before the cutoff date. If you and your partner met the state’s legal requirements while common law marriage was still available, your marriage remains fully valid today. Pennsylvania’s statute makes this explicit: the ban on new common law marriages “shall not be deemed or taken to render any common-law marriage otherwise lawful and contracted on or before January 1, 2005, invalid.”7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 23-1103 – Common-law Marriage Alabama, Georgia, and the other abolition states have similar savings clauses.8Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 30-1-20 – Common-Law Marriage Abolished

Because a common law marriage carries the same legal weight as a ceremonial one, ending it requires a formal divorce. Separating and moving out does not undo it. You remain legally married, and that status affects taxes, inheritance, benefits, and your ability to marry anyone else, until a court grants a divorce.

Proving Your Marriage Began Before Abolition

A common law marriage has no certificate and no official start date. If your state has abolished the practice and someone disputes whether your marriage was formed before the cutoff, the burden is on you to show it was. The kinds of evidence that help:

  • Joint tax returns filed as married during the relevant years
  • Shared property records, deeds, or leases
  • Joint bank or credit accounts from the period
  • Insurance policies and emergency contact forms listing a spouse
  • Affidavits from family members and friends who knew you as married
  • Any document from the time where you identified yourselves as married

Courts in states that recognized common law marriage looked for three things: a present mutual agreement to be married, cohabitation, and holding yourselves out publicly as a married couple.10Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2013-17 Evidence that those three elements existed before the cutoff date is what establishes the marriage retroactively.

States That Still Allow Common Law Marriage

If you are trying to understand your current options rather than confirm a past marriage, the following jurisdictions still permit couples to form a new common law marriage:

  • Colorado: Both parties must be at least 18 and otherwise legally eligible to marry.
  • Iowa: Recognized through statute and case law.
  • Kansas: Both parties must be 18 or older.11Kansas Legislature. Kansas Statute 23-2502 – Common-law Marriage
  • Montana: Not prohibited by statute.
  • Oklahoma: Statutes require a license, but case law has upheld common law marriages.2National Conference of State Legislatures. Common Law Marriage by State
  • Rhode Island: Recognized through case law.
  • Texas: Called an “informal marriage.” A couple can either file a declaration with the county clerk or prove they agreed to be married, lived together in Texas, and represented themselves as married.12State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 2.401 – Proof of Informal Marriage
  • District of Columbia: Recognized through case law.

Two states offer narrower recognition. New Hampshire treats couples who have lived together and acknowledged each other as spouses for at least three years as married, but only after one partner dies, letting the survivor inherit as a spouse.13Justia Law. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 457:39 – Cohabitation Utah recognizes a “marriage not solemnized” only after a court or administrative order confirms the couple had capacity, cohabited, and held themselves out as spouses, with the petition filed during the relationship or within one year after it ends.14Utah Legislature. Utah Code 81-2-408 – Validity of Marriage Not Solemnized

States That Never Recognized Common Law Marriage

Twenty-three states have no history of permitting common law marriage. A license and officiated ceremony have always been required. Those states are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.1Social Security Administration. GN 00305.075 State Laws on Validity of Common-Law Non-Ceremonial Marriages Years of cohabitation in any of these states, no matter how marriage-like the arrangement, does not create a legal marriage.

If You Move to a State That Does Not Recognize Common Law Marriage

A valid common law marriage follows you across state lines. The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires every state to honor the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of other states.15Constitution Annotated. Overview of Full Faith and Credit Clause A common law marriage validly formed in Colorado is treated as a legal marriage in California, New York, or any other state, even one that does not allow new common law marriages, and even one that abolished the practice long ago.

The hard part is proof. Without a certificate, you may need joint financial records, sworn affidavits, or a court order recognizing the marriage when dealing with insurers, hospitals, employers, or county recorders. The same is true if a state abolished common law marriage but your marriage was formed before the cutoff: the marriage is legally intact, but the responsibility for documenting it is yours.