Me and my gf have been living together for quite some time but havent tied the knot. I was wondering how long you must live together to be considered "common law" and if we should just go down to the court house and make it legit if we already are. I know it's not the most romantic thing, but our unsupportive families are pretty much the reason we've hesitated. I want to give her a nice wedding, but would probably have to pay for everything myself and really dont have the money for ring + wedding.
It's not just living together for x amount of time. You have to introduce each other as husband and wife. I believe you also have to share certain things (possibly bank accounts, residence, finances, etc.).
I thought in Texas, the common law thing was 6 mos., maybe a year, but that only applied if you presented yourself as husband and wife, such as joint checking account, rent/utilities together, etc... As for you doing the wedding, does it have to be big...what about a location wedding like in Vegas or on a beach...Hell, if its cost, do the JP thing...
no..because you guys don't hold yourselves out as husband/wife yet. you're acknowledging that you're not married and that you are YET TO BE married.
So I guess we arent "married" yet, but we do have a joint checking account that we have had a short time as well as credit cards that we've had for longer??? would that qualify as common law? or do you have to introduce yourself as husband and wife? are there any benefits that would come from us being married? I know I would probably qualify to be on her companies benefits (free dental, etc. she works fro gov. agency ) What about taxes, etc. or anything Im not thinking of?
Ah, I misunderstood. I thought that sharing a bank account was a way of introducing yourself as husband/wife. I was about to be pissed that all the stress of the last few months was for naught.
The link Codell put out should clear it all up for you... http://www.co.travis.tx.us/dro/common_law.asp
it's some evidence that you held yourself out. but neither one of you could truthfully swear that you held yourself out this way. and there'd be tons of us who could testify that we knew you were planning a wedding...and that you called her your fiancee.
Since this exact question was on the TX Bar Exam last week, let me impart what little information I have. There are three elements to the common law marriage 1. Agreement between the parties to marry 2. "Holding out" as talked about in other posts this is simply telling the word that you are married...and having joint bank accounts would be very good circumstantial evidence here. 3. Cohabitation - there is no minimum amount of time here needed, but as told by our bar review teacher, "A weekend in South Padre isn't enough" If you want to establish the common law marriage for yourselves or just to establish eligibility for certain benefits, i.e. Social Security, you can file a Declaration of informal marriage. This document simply contains 1. everything that needs to be in a marriage license (that you are both 18 or older, not already married, not related w/in the prohibited degrees of consanguinity ----interesting fact first cousins can legally marry in texas ----, etc. ) and 2. the elements of the common law marriage stated above. Hope this helps, and if not, at least I'm proud I took something away from that hideous bar review class.
If there's one thing I've learned from my recent looooooooooooooooong term relationship, it's that one should never have a joint account of any kind with your significant other before you are married.
