Common Law Marriage

What Is Common Law Marriage in Texas

Whether you have a common law marriage can determine whether you need to go through a divorce. Attorney Rachel Rust talks about common law marriage in this video and answers common questions about how you might know if it applies to you. Call or text 800-929-1725 for an appointment with Rachel. She’s an Of Counsel attorney with the Law Firm of Wadler, Perches, Hundl & Kerlick and she typically meets clients at offices in Bay City, Wharton and Fulshear.

What’s Common Law Marriage in Texas

Summary of the Common Law Marriage Video

So Texas is one of I think eight states now that recognize a non-ceremonial marriage. The marriage that you think of that occurs in front of a priest or a judge is what’s called a ceremonial marriage. Your marriage certificate attests to the fact that you were married by someone the state has licensed to perform that ceremony. That could be a judge or it could be a preacher.

I guess back in the 1800s there weren’t many preachers around in rural areas. Folks out in the country needed to get married and wanted to formalize it so they created the concept of a common law marriage.

There are three requirements for a common law marriage. One is that the parties agree to be married. The second one is that the two people live together — although it’s not specified for how long. Whether one night works or a week works, or whatever is not specified. But you have to live together. The third is that you hold yourselves out as married.

What Does It Mean to Hold Yourselves Out as Married

Probably of those three, the easiest and the most common proof of a common law marriage is that you hold yourselves out as married. So what does that look like? Well one way to do that is to sign a piece of paper to formalize your marriage at the same place you get birth certificates and death certificates. You both sign, and you say as of this date we were married.

Even though you didn’t go through a formal ceremony, you might find a need to prove that you are married for insurance purposes. That might be for getting somebody on health insurance, or for social security benefits. So even though you didn’t go through the vows-setting process, you’ve still got a piece of paper to proved that you’re married.

There are other ways that become deciding factors as to whether you’ve held yourselves out as married. Did you file as married on your income tax return? For medical insurance, did you claim the person, or were you claimed as a dependent? If you did those things, you’ve held yourselves out as married, the same or more so than if you introduced that person as your old lady, or your old man, or as your husband or wife.

Sometimes someone comes in to my office and says, “I don’t know whether I’m married or not, but here’s what I’ve done.” Those are the questions I ask people.

There’s No Informal Divorce for Common Law Marriage

There is no informal divorce. So there’s no divorce counter part to a common law marriage. If you did those things to establish a common law marriage, or you’re pretty sure you did those things, or there’s a paper trail of what you did, then you’re probably married.

You can say, “Well, I didn’t agree to be married, but I put this person on my insurance because they didn’t have insurance.” Or you might say, “I got more money back from the IRS if I put her on my tax return.” Either you’ve committed tax fraud, or insurance fraud, or you’ve just held yourselves out as married. Now you got to get divorced.

Whether you have a common law marriage or not is very fact specific. Your really need to talk to your attorney about what you have done in your unique circumstances. Whether you’ve done enough to establish a common law marriage will determine whether or not you’ve got to get divorced. It also determines whether you’re entitled to the benefits of marriage in the divorce process. That’s usually where this comes up.

Common Law Marriage Entitles You to the Benefits of Marriage in Divorce

People aren’t arguing about whether they are or aren’t common law married while they’re together. They argue about it when they’re splitting up.
Rachel Rust

There are benefits and responsibilities of having been married that you don’t get for just living together. So if you and I were living together without the benefit of marriage and we broke up, I wouldn’t be entitled to any claims of community property.

Community is the Texas word for marital property. You can’t have a community property if you’re not married. So that’s the context in which I most often ask about common law marriage. Your attorney can help you determine if you have an informal or common law marriage.

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Rachel Rust Attorney at Law

Only you can answer that question, but your answer will likely have lasting impacts on your life and your children’s lives. So you should think carefully about your goals for divorce, and for five and ten and twenty years after your divorce.

Some marriages are scarred by family violence or abuse. Some relationships are so broken that your best option would be for a court to decide how to divide your marital property and your responsibilities for raising children.

However, for many people there is a shared willingness to work together for the sake of the children. There’s a realization that needless fighting during the divorce will leave less money to divide for life after the divorce. There’s the recognition that the judge will be more focused on distributive justice than punishment.

If you’re willing to work for the better futures of yourself and your children, than Rachel may be a good choice for your divorce attorney. She has many years of experience as a family therapist. She’s treated the children and their parents caught in destructive divorces and in the continuing conflicts years afterward.

If Rachel’s background and her experience in promoting non-destructive divorce are aligned with your goals, please call or text for an appointment at 800-929-1725.

By visiting this website, I understand that contacting Rachel L. Rust and Wadler, Perches, Kerlick or any of its attorneys by any of the methods listed on this website does not create an attorney-client relationship. The attorney-client relationship is formed only when you and Wadler, Perches, Kerlick have expressly agreed to an engagement in writing. Information conveyed to Rachel Rust and Wadler, Perches, Kerlick via the Internet may not be secure and information conveyed prior to establishing an attorney-client relationship may not be privileged or confidential.