According to the National Conference of State Legislature a common law marriage means you’re considered legally married ...

Did you assume common law marriage existed in every state? I did. I feel like it was one of those bits of information that floated around as simply a given that if you lived with someone for seven ...

In fact, most states do not legally recognize common-law marriages at all. Legal marriage is primarily regulated by state laws, not federal laws. This means that each state will have a different ...

Marriage partners may choose to exclude certain ... In a legal separation or divorce in a common law state, the court can decide how marital property is divided according to its laws.

the SSA first requires that the couple does have a valid common law marriage according to their state’s laws. This varies from state to state, but generally requires, in layman’s terms ...

Guam law defines marriage as “a personal relation arising ... Why does this matter? In states where common-law marriages are recognized, if one partner dies, the other may be eligible to ...

In common law states, assets generally belong to the spouse who acquired them unless they are jointly owned. These rules determine how property and debts are divided when a marriage ends.