A Garfield County couple's signed, notarized document attesting to their common law marriage does not mean they were actually ...

“Well, we were never actually married, but we were basically married. Common law married.” Few words raise more red flags for estate planners and probate attorneys than phrases like this. Marriage is ...

Normally, when I write about case law, it is a divorce or family law case. Today, of all things, a tax court case caught my attention as it dealt with the issue of whether New Jersey recognizes common ...

Do you assume common law marriage exists everywhere? At some point growing up I "learned" that any couple who lives together for seven years automatically becomes a common law marriage, and never ...

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 states that recognize common law marriages, you must meet a few requirements to gain marital status, but even these vary by state. Some of the requirements: You must live together for an amount of ...