Ed Carp says:
FYI, to be married in this way, you have to declare yourself in public as married - introducing yourself as someone's husband or wife, for example, is enough. But being "common law" married, it's only "legally" - that is, if one or both parties want to dissolve the marriage and don't want to exercise their rights, they can just walk away from the marriage.
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? 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. How do I know? I'm an ex-cop. I worked on one of those 'common law' marriage cases. -- Ed Carp, N7EKG erc@apple.com 510/659-9560 an38299@anon.penet.fi If you want magic, let go of your armor. Magic is so much stronger than steel! -- Richard Bach, "The Bridge Across Forever"