# What is the legal definition of a common -law wife? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2014, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749 "2014-03-28T09:16:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/21 "2014-03-29T02:06:39Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > It’s a pity that in Canada we don’t have a politically correct term to describe a relationship in which the parties are for all intents and purposes married, despite not being married in either statute or common law. _Conjoints de fait._ Oh, you wanted the English version? Hmm. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/22 "2014-03-29T06:48:25Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Is an **adult interdependent act** something two people do with a Depend ™? I read that to mean something that _one_ adult does between _two_ Depends™. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/23 "2014-03-29T10:29:47Z")
I am too scared to check, but what exactly was the situation in England and Wales before Lord Hardwickes Act? IIRC, all you needed was to act as if you were married, i.e do every thing that a married couple would do. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/24 "2014-03-29T11:18:03Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I am too scared to check, but what exactly was the situation in England and Wales before Lord Hardwickes Act? IIRC, all you needed was to act as if you were married, i.e do every thing that a married couple would do. It was a lot more vague than that, but remember that for most people it didn’t really matter, because there was no property involved. Marriage as such was really the prerogative of the Church, and banns had to be read and vows taken before a priest. It was even possible to sell a wife (Thomas Hardy) as wives has few rights. For the aristocracy and landed gentry it was different. For them, marriage was much more akin to a civil contract. Back to Magna Carta: > [@](#): > > (6) Heirs may be given in marriage, but not to someone of lower social standing. Before a marriage takes place, it shall be made known to the heir’s next-of-kin. > (7) At her husband’s death, a widow may have her marriage portion and inheritance at once and without trouble. She shall pay nothing for her dower, marriage portion, or any inheritance that she and her husband held jointly on the day of his death. She may remain in her husband’s house for forty days after his death, and within this period her dower shall be assigned to her. > (8) No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she wishes to remain without a husband. But she must give security that she will not marry without royal consent, if she holds her lands of the Crown, or without the consent of whatever other lord she may hold them of. Quite a lot has changed since then and today, if a cohabiting couple separate, a court will decide how to split any property. This has even been extended to pension funds recently. There is, however, no fixed formula and as with many situations, being married can make it easier than not being. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/25 "2014-03-29T11:58:08Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > IIRC, all you needed was to act as if you were married, i.e do every thing that a married couple would do. So if you fight like cats and dogs, voilà you’re married? ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/26 "2014-03-29T14:30:20Z")
Ireland changed their Law to give some rights to common law partnerships [Cite](http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/livein-partners-have-rights-new-court-ruling-says-26304026.html) [Cite](http://lauraonlaw.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/the-rights-of-the-non-marital-family-under-irish-law/) with some explanations ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/27 "2014-03-29T15:45:17Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Cecil Adams on [Are ships’ captains allowed to marry people at sea?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/546/are-ships-captains-allowed-to-marry-people-at-sea) (1987) > > There are still some states that recognize common-law marriage. Typically all that’s necessary is that the parties (1) be legally free to marry (e.g., no undissolved prior marriages); (2) properly consent; (3) “cohabit” (do it); (4) live together; and (5) let the neighbors think they’re married. (Contrary to common belief, it is not necessary that the couple live together for seven years.)" I am at the library looking at some Annotations, although none mention a year timeframe, I guess I thought it, it was about 20 years ago I looked it up. "Ohio recognizes a relationship as a common law marriage only where the parties 1)agree to marriage in praesenti, 2) thereafter live together as husband and wife, 3) are reputed to be are treated as husband and wife in the community. Young v. Secretary of Health and Human Services (C. A. 6 (Ohio) 1986) 787 F. 2nd 1064, certiorari denied 107 S.Ct. 585, 479 U.S. 990, 93 LEd. 2nd 587. … "Person seeking to establish common law marriage must prove four elements: (1) a mutual agreement to marry in praesenti, made by parties competent to marry; (2) cohabitation as husband and wide; (3) holding of themselves out as husband anf wife in the community in which they live; (4) being regarded as husband and wife in community in which they live. Kowalik v. Kowalik (Ohio App. 7 Dist., 02-25-97) 118 Ohio App.3rd 141, 691 N.E. 2nd 1152". … "A common law marriage may be established in Ohio only when each of the following five essential elements is proved by clear and convincing evidence, namely: 1)an agreement of marriage per verba de praesenti; 2) made by parties competent to marry; 3) followed by cohabitation; 4) a holding out as husband and wife; 5) a reputation as man and wife. In re Soeder’s Estate (Cuyahoga 1966) 7 Ohio App. 2nd 271 220 N.E. 2nd 547 O.O 2nd 404. … There are about 8 other citations also. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/28 "2014-03-29T17:52:50Z")
I know it wasn’t recognized in Maryland in the 1990s. Since my mother and “step-father” were not legally married (cohabited 7 years and had children together) my mother had to buy her house twice and pay-off his relatives when he died. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/29 "2014-03-30T02:45:30Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > We do–_adult interdependent relationship_. ([Cite](http://www.qp.alberta.ca/1266.cfm?page=A04P5.cfm&leg_type=Acts&isbncln=0779739396&display=html) to Alberta’s _Adult Interdependent Relationships Act_.) Mind, that’s in Alberta, but I wouldn’t be surprised if other provinces were using it too. But, my recollection is that you don’t have to be “doin’ it” (even nominally ;)) to qualify under the Act? That it was drafted to include, for instance, two bachelor brothers living together? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/30 "2014-03-30T05:38:53Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > But, my recollection is that you don’t have to be “doin’ it” (even nominally ;)) to qualify under the Act? That it was drafted to include, for instance, two bachelor brothers living together? That, I don’t know. My only experience with the Act has been between an unrelated man and woman living together. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/31 "2014-03-30T17:15:14Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > Under the common law (which may have been amended in those states that still recognize it - the last time I checked there were about a dozen) the salient features were the intent to consider themselves married and to hold out to the public as married. There was no duration period necessary. How do “you hold out to the public that you are married”? Many ways. One is that you refer yourselves to others as married, but good evidence of that are your tax forms, execution of written instruments, etc. This describes exactly the situation in Pennsylvania when I was growing up. There was no magic seven year period (despite wide belief that there was) no requirement to have children. The only requirement was that the parties presented themselves to the public as married. In those days, actual cohabitation without marriage was uncommon, but if you simply proclaimed your were unmarried though living together, you weren’t married. Quebec is not under common law, but they have a status of “equivalent to married” which is something like it. But if you are cohabiting and have had a child together you are equivalent to married and separation is similar to divorce, especially with regard to sharing of pensions, which can get complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/32 "2014-03-30T17:22:13Z")
Amusingly, my girlfriend and I spent a couple months living together in Texas, telling everybody we were married. Then we discovered that, as a result, we were. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/33 "2014-03-30T18:33:39Z")
[QUOTE=Hari Seldon] Quebec is not under common law, but they have a status of “equivalent to married” which is something like it. But if you are cohabiting and have had a child together you are equivalent to married and separation is similar to divorce, especially with regard to sharing of pensions, which can get complicated. [/QUOTE] No, this isn’t correct. In Quebec, if you’re not married and break up, there’s no right to division of property, and no right to spousal support. The Civil Code doesn’t recognise conjoints de fait as having any rights of this sort, and last year, the Supreme Court upheld that state of the law from a Charter based equality challenge. Here’s a good article which summarises the state of the law in Canada: [http://www.vanierinstitute.ca/include/get.php?nodeid=3342](http://www.vanierinstitute.ca/include/get.php?nodeid=3342) ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/34 "2014-03-30T20:05:48Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Years ago friends of mine broke up over this. Sunday evening a bunch of people were talking at their apartment. She mentioned that their 7 year anniversary was coming up and they’d be common law married. She was joking. The next day she came home from work and dialed 911 to report a burglary. When the cops came and cleared the place, she returned and realized only “his” stuff was missing. Haven’t seen/heard from him since. Looks like she dodged a bullet! > [@kayaker](#): > > I have friends who have been together 30 years or so. If you call one the other’s husband/wife they scowl and correct you. But they’re happy as can be. Why fuck up a good thing?😃 I know you’re just joking, but I had a friend/co-worker who’d been living with her man for 20 years. They’d finally decided to tie the knot but hadn’t taken any formal steps, and then he died suddenly of a heart attack. She had zero rights regarding dealing with his funeral, which became his mother’s show. She lost half of what they’d built together (house, nest egg). It was a very rude awakening. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/35 "2014-03-31T10:47:48Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > I know you’re just joking, but I had a friend/co-worker who’d been living with her man for 20 years. They’d finally decided to tie the knot but hadn’t taken any formal steps, and then he died suddenly of a heart attack. She had zero rights regarding dealing with his funeral, which became his mother’s show. She lost half of what they’d built together (house, nest egg). It was a very rude awakening. I’m not married, but my will and advanced directives are very specific regarding how I want things handled. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/36 "2014-03-31T11:41:06Z")
> [@Billdo](#): > > The problem is that there are two common – and largely opposite – understandings of the term “common-law wife/spouse/marriage.” Not just two… By definition, a legal definition is not “common law”. If it’s “common law”, the relationship is defined by accumulated case law, not by a “legal definition” Those states that have legal definitions of marriage (that don’t require weddings) are defining a form of statutary marriage. The use of the term “common law” to refer to this makes a third kind of meaning: statutary law precident co-habitation ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/37 "2014-03-31T18:53:30Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > No, this isn’t correct. In Quebec, if you’re not married and break up, there’s no right to division of property, and no right to spousal support. The Civil Code doesn’t recognise conjoints de fait as having any rights of this sort, and last year, the Supreme Court upheld that state of the law from a Charter based equality challenge. > > Here’s a good article which summarises the state of the law in Canada: > > [http://www.vanierinstitute.ca/include/get.php?nodeid=3342](http://www.vanierinstitute.ca/include/get.php?nodeid=3342) As it should be, IMHO. Marriage, and the rights given to it, should absolutely be an opt-in situation. It’s a shame people fail to be educated on that front before deciding not to get married/buy a house/have kids, etc, but I don’t see how that should be the default condition after X number of years. Marriage costs are nominal (compared to notary costs to set up similar wills, which may not be valid for all cases that equate to the rights of marriage, to my knowledge). Too many people think marriage = wedding, when it really is nothing more than a contract. You want the terms of the contract? Sign it. Want different terms? Get a notary involved. Want to attachments? Risk it all with no paperwork. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/38 "2014-03-31T20:55:55Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Not just two… By definition, a legal definition is not “common law”. If it’s “common law”, the relationship is defined by accumulated case law, not by a “legal definition” > > Those states that have legal definitions of marriage (that don’t require weddings) are defining a form of statutary marriage. Yeah, the “common law” nomenclature is confusing. I _think_ the issue there is that normally marriage was handled under the church’s canon law as opposed to the secular common law, and so the “clandestine marriages” that side-stepped the canon law were said to be “common law” marriages. These days, all marriages are handled by the secular authorities (obviously) but the term “common law marriage” as meaning a marriage made outside of the normal channels appears to have stuck despite the concept having little to do with “common law” in the normal legal sense. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/39 "2014-04-01T00:49:51Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > Yeah, the “common law” nomenclature is confusing. I _think_ the issue there is that normally marriage was handled under the church’s canon law as opposed to the secular common law, and so the “clandestine marriages” that side-stepped the canon law were said to be “common law” marriages. These days, all marriages are handled by the secular authorities (obviously) but the term “common law marriage” as meaning a marriage made outside of the normal channels appears to have stuck despite the concept having little to do with “common law” in the normal legal sense. Not quite. Originally common law and ecclesiastical law were aligned - a marriage was created by the mutual promises of the spouses, followed by physical consummation. You didn’t need any witnesses or celebrant at all, never mind a church service, although both witnesses and formal services were usual, and keenly encouraged by both social convention and church practice. A “clandestine marriage” was one formed by the couple alone; other people only knew about it after the event, if and when the couple told them. Clandestine marriages were regarded as disreputable, and as socially undesirable for a variety of reasons. In the late sixteenth century, at the Council of Trent, the Catholic church introduced a rule requiring Catholics to marry in a Catholic ceremony, or get a dispensation from their bishop allowing them to marry otherwise. If they failed to do this, any marriage would be invalid. Catholic-governed countries very soon adopted this rule, or versions of it, requiring a ceremony for the validity of marriage (for all citizens, not just for Catholics). However England had by then broken with Rome, and did not adopt the rule. There was some dispute in England, at this time, whether a completely private exchange of promises created a valid marriage, or merely a binding contract to marry and, if the latter, whether the binding contract was converted to a valid marriage by subsequent consummation. It wasn’t until 1754 that the English adopted a similar rule when, under Lord Hardwicke’s Act (“An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage”), a marriage ceremony became essential to the formation of a valid marriage. As already noted in this thread, that Act did not directly apply in the North American colonies ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749/40 "2014-04-01T14:28:05Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Not just two… By definition, a legal definition is not “common law”. If it’s “common law”, the relationship is defined by accumulated case law, not by a “legal definition” That strikes me as a quibble. Legal concepts can be defined by case law as well as by statute. For example, in my province, there’s no statute that defines what a contract is. The definition of a contract comes from the common law. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-legal-definition-of-a-common-law-wife/684749.md?page=3)