Common Law Marriage

Common Low Marriage
Common Law Marriage

“To love one another and grow together as one,” comes to my mind as I sit and

discuss my common law marriage with my friends. In society eyes you are not considered

married unless you have a wedding and a marriage licenses. My legally married friends do not

consider the agreement that my husband and I have agreed on as being legally married.

According to Webster the meaning of Common Law Marriage is a relationship created by

agreement and cohabitation rather than by ceremony. I agree with this definition. The reason I

agree with the definition is that it’s an informal marriage by habit and repute. What this mean is

that two people have decided to stay together temporarily. In the state of Alabama this law does

apply.

There are a couple of things you have to prove in order to be common law married. First,

both of you must have the legal right or “capacity to marry.” In other words you must be an

adult, you must be of the opposite sex from the person you tend to marry, you must be of sound

mind, and you must not be married to anyone else. For instance, people who have lived together

for many years, call themselves husband and wife and have many children still do not have a

common law marriage if one of them is still married to someone else. However, they can find

their selves as common law married if the person that’s married at the time gets a divorce whiles

you are living together. It can also happen if the person that’s married spouse dies while you are

living together.

Each person must intend to be married to the other person is another thing that has to be

proven to become common law married. Some ways of doing this are by using the same last

name, you must recognize yourselves as my husband and my wife to the public, and file a joint

tax return. Keep in mind that one problem is, it is hard to know what