Amazingly, a lot of people cannot correctly answer that question.<\/p>\n
In Texas, you can be married formally or informally.\u00a0 The formal way is when you sign a written declaration of marriage.\u00a0 The informal way, also known as a common-law marriage, is when you and another person agree to be married, thereafter live together in Texas as spouses, and represent to others that you are married.<\/p>\n
It is the informal, common-law method that can get pretty dicey, especially if it comes up after one of the parties dies.<\/p>\n
The survivor of a relationship usually has a strong motive to claim that a common-law marriage with the decedent existed: at stake are rights to a family allowance, a life estate, and a portion (or all) of the decedent\u2019s property.\u00a0 To collect this jackpot, all of the survivors have to do is successfully bring a claim of common-law marriage.<\/p>\n
A claim, post-death, of a common-law marriage with the decedent usually sets up a spirited battle with the people who would otherwise inherit the decedent\u2019s estate.\u00a0\u00a0 Such a claim, which is heavily fact-dependent, can embroil relatives, family friends, employers and neighbors in depositions, written discovery and even a jury trial.<\/p>\n
If the couple acted consistently in all of their dealings, then it could be pretty easy.\u00a0 \u00a0Naming each other as spouse on employment forms, tax filings, and written contracts, verbally referring to each other as a spouse, agreeing in front of other people that they are married \u2013 all of this can be relevant.\u00a0 On the other hand if during the term of the alleged marriage, either person signed documents as \u201cunmarried\u201d or \u201csingle,\u201d or denied to others that there was a marriage, then it could be tough to prove.<\/p>\n
An interesting tidbit that often trips up a would-be common-law marriage claimant:\u00a0 you can only be married to one person at a time.\u00a0 The alternative arrangement would be bigamy, which is not only disfavored in the law but is actually a crime. \u00a0\u00a0Sometimes in a person\u2019s haste to claim a new spouse, an existing spouse (especially one in another state or country is conveniently overlooked.\u00a0 Not only is that bad form, but it is also fatal to a claim of common-law marriage with someone else.<\/p>\n
Both parties have to agree to be married, live together in Texas, and hold themselves out as spouses.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t enough for one party to claim\u00a0a marriage and unilaterally list the other party as a spouse on paperwork.\u00a0 Rather, both parties\u2019 actions have to show a marriage.<\/p>\n