PGP in FIDO

[Ed Carp]

> 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 at apple.com			510/659-9560
                            an38299 at 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"