What is a common-law marriage?
September 3, 2010 2:16 am LegalWhat is a common-law marriage?
A small minority of states, including Texas, allow the creation of marriage by common law. A Texas common-law marriage is one in which there is no ceremony or marriage license. As in the above definition, parties must be capable of contracting and generally be of opposite gender. A Texas common law marriage requires an actual agreement by the two people to act as husband and wife. The agreement may be by words or conduct. In addition, there must also be a “holding out” in Texas of the marital status and cohabitation. This means that the parties must represent themselves in Texas as married to others, such as using the same name, calling each other “husband” or “wife”, opening joint accounts or contracting joint debt, filing a joint tax return, etc. If there is a disagreement as to whether or not the parties are married, the person alleging that a marriage exists must prove the marriage by clear and convincing evidence. If the relationship is not initially a common law marriage, because of a lack of contract capacity, the common law marriage may still be created if the couple continues the “marital” relationship after the contract defect is removed.
