Ed Carp says:
Untrue. Common law marriage is a real marriage in every single sense. There is no legal difference in states that recognize it. You need a real honest to god divorce in order to end one. Look it up if you don't believe me.
Not at all. I *did* look it up. Technically, you are correct - but that marriage is recorded by no government agency, you won't find it in any public records - hell, if you still file 'single' on your tax return, who's going to know?
If you still file "single" on your tax returns, you haven't met the common law standard of acting in every way as if you were married.
You can just walk away - and if your spouse agrees with you, you *can*. I'm not talking about 'what would do in court' - I'm talking real life.
This is true even of normal marriages. If you and your spouse simply agreed never to make an issue of it, you could walk away and no one would ever know. I fail to see what your point is, but in any case this is NOT the mailing list for discussing this topic. Perry