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EnglishTeacher
Guest
Mere cohabitation, even long-term, does not constitute common-law marriage (although that it does is a popular misconception).
Only a handful of states recognize common-law marriage, and even in those states, certain criteria must be met before the state will deem a relationship to be a common-law marriage. Those criteria are 1) living together (amount of time varies by state statute), 2) capacity and legal right to marry by both parties, 3) intention by both parties to be married, and 4) “holding out” to the rest of the world that you are a married couple (e.g, taking the same last name, consistently referring to each other as husband and wife, etc.). Since common-law marriage requires all these factors, I would doubt how common it really is–but since I do not live in a state that recognizes common-law marriage, I can’t say for sure.
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