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#STATES THAT RECOGNIZE COMMON LAW MARRIAGE

By: Susan Price, Senior Attorney

You asked how many states recognize common law marriage and the basic standards for forming them.

With some differences, 15 states and the District of Columbia recognize some form of common law marriage either by statute or court ruling. Nine of these place restrictions on relationships they will consider as the equivalent of marriage. The most common is refusing to recognize common law relationships formed after a specific date.

The two basic elements couples generally must establish are cohabitation and holding themselves out to the world as a married couple. Evidence sufficient to satisfy the holding out prong include the woman adopting her spouse ' s last name, filing joint state or federal tax returns, or referring to themselves as husband and wife.

Table 1 below shows the states and any restrictions they place on common law marriage recognition.

Table 1: States That Recognize Common Law Marriage