A common law marriage is a legally valid marriage that a couple creates without a marriage license, a ceremony, or an officiant. In the small group of states that still allow it, you are married if you have the legal capacity to marry, you both agree right now that you are married, and you live together and present yourselves to the world as a married couple. Here is what that actually means in practice — and the myth I end up correcting at least once a season.
Definition
Common law marriage — a legally binding marriage formed without a license or ceremony, created when a couple who can legally marry agrees to be married and lives as a married couple in a state that recognizes it.
The short answer
Strip away the folklore and a common law marriage comes down to three things, all of which have to be true at the same time. First, both people need the legal capacity to marry — old enough, single (not already married to someone else), and otherwise eligible. Second, there has to be a present agreement to be married. Not a plan to marry someday, not an engagement — a mutual understanding that you are married, starting now. Third, you have to live together and hold yourselves out as a married couple: introducing each other as spouses, filing taxes jointly, sharing a last name, that kind of thing.
When those pieces line up in a state that allows it, the result is a real marriage. It is not a lesser or informal status. A valid common law marriage carries the same legal weight as a licensed, ceremonial one, and it has done since long before any of us were booking venues. Same-sex common law marriages count too, in the states that recognize the doctrine, following the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.
The “seven years” myth: no, living together does not make you married
This is the one I have to untangle most often. There is a stubborn belief that if you live with a partner for seven years, you are automatically common law married. It is not true — not in any state, not at seven years, not at ten, not at thirty.
No state sets a required number of years. Cohabitation matters as evidence that you are living as a married couple, but there is no magic clock. In a state like Texas or Colorado, a couple can meet the test in a matter of days if the agreement and the holding-out are there. Meanwhile, two people can share a home and a mortgage for decades and never be common law married, simply because they never agreed they were married. Length of relationship alone proves nothing.
The only place a specific number shows up is New Hampshire, and it works differently than the myth suggests — more on that below.
Madison’s note
“At least once a season, a couple tells me they’re ‘basically common law married’ because they’ve lived together for years. In most states that means nothing legally, and in the few where it could count, the years aren’t what matter — agreeing you’re married and acting like it is. If you want the legal protection without the guesswork, the cleanest path is still a license.”
— Madison Cole, Certified Wedding Planner
Which states recognize common law marriage?
Only a minority of states still let you form a common law marriage, and the map has been shrinking for years as states phase it out. As of 2026, you can create a new one in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and Washington, D.C. A couple of those come with quirks: Utah generally requires a court or agency order recognizing the marriage, and in Oklahoma and Rhode Island the doctrine lives in court decisions rather than a clean statute.
New Hampshire is the outlier. It recognizes common law marriage only for inheritance purposes, and only after one partner has died — the surviving partner can be treated as a spouse for the estate if the couple lived together and were known as married for at least three years before the death. It is not a way for a living couple to claim they are married day to day.
Then there are the states that abolished common law marriage but still honor the ones formed before their cutoff date — Alabama (after 2017), South Carolina (after July 2019), Pennsylvania (after 2004), Georgia (after 1996), Ohio (after 1990), Florida (after 1967), and Indiana (after 1957), among others. If you established a valid common law marriage before your state pulled the plug, you are still married.
One more piece that surprises people: all 50 states will recognize a common law marriage that was validly created somewhere that allows it. So if you became common law married in Texas and then moved to California — which has no common law marriage of its own — California still treats you as married. For the current state-by-state breakdown, the National Conference of State Legislatures keeps a clear reference.
Common law marriage by state (2026)
| Status | Where |
|---|---|
| You can still form one | Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and Washington, D.C. |
| Special case | New Hampshire — recognized only for inheritance, after one partner dies |
| Abolished, older ones still valid | Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina (each with its own cutoff date) |
| Honored if formed elsewhere | All 50 states recognize a common law marriage validly created in a state that allows it |
What rights does a common law spouse have?
Once a common law marriage is legally established, a common law spouse has the same rights and responsibilities as any other legal spouse. That covers the big ones: dividing property and debt if the relationship ends, inheriting from each other, Social Security and survivor benefits, the right to make medical decisions, and the option to file taxes as a married couple.
The catch is that those rights only kick in if the marriage is actually recognized — and that question usually gets tested at the worst possible moment, during a divorce or after a death, when one person is trying to prove the marriage existed and the other side (or an estate) is disputing it. The burden falls on the person claiming the marriage, and there is no single document that settles it. Courts weigh the whole picture: joint tax returns, shared accounts, beneficiary designations, a shared last name, and whether you genuinely referred to each other as spouses over time.
Good to know
I plan weddings — I’m not an attorney, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Common law marriage rules vary by state, and whether one exists is ultimately decided by a court. If your taxes, benefits, property, or estate could hinge on it, talk to a family law attorney in your state.
How do you prove — or end — a common law marriage?
There is no certificate handed out for a common law marriage, which is exactly why it gets messy. Proving one means stacking up evidence that you held yourselves out as married: joint tax filings, a lease or mortgage in both names, shared bank and credit accounts, naming each other as beneficiary or emergency contact, and a consistent track record of calling each other husband or wife. If you ever want to understand why the paperwork matters so much, it helps to know the difference between a marriage license and a marriage certificate — both of which a common law marriage skips entirely.
Ending one is less ambiguous than people expect. There is no such thing as a “common law divorce.” If your common law marriage is valid, you have to go through the same formal divorce process as any other married couple to end it, with the same property division and the same paperwork. You cannot just move out and call it done.
Here is my pragmatic take as someone who does this for a living: if the legal protections are what you are after, a license removes every bit of this guesswork. It is inexpensive, it is on the record, and no court will ever have to reconstruct whether you meant to be married. And if you decide you would rather make it official with an actual celebration, here is how to plan a wedding from the very first step.
Frequently asked questions
Does living together for seven years make you married?
No. No state makes you married just for living together, and there is no seven-year rule anywhere. Common law marriage depends on agreeing you are married and living as a married couple in a state that allows it — not on a number of years.
Which states still allow common law marriage?
As of 2026, you can still form one in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, and Washington, D.C. New Hampshire recognizes it only for inheritance after a partner dies. Several other states honor older common law marriages formed before they abolished the practice.
Is a common law marriage a real marriage?
Yes. Once it is legally established, a common law marriage carries the same rights and responsibilities as a licensed, ceremonial marriage — including taxes, inheritance, and property. All 50 states recognize one that was validly formed in a state that allows it.
Do you need a divorce to end a common law marriage?
Yes. There is no such thing as a common law divorce. If a common law marriage is legally valid, ending it requires the same formal divorce process as any other marriage.
However you and your partner define your relationship, the safest way to lock in the legal side of marriage is the boring one — get a license. It clears up every question this article raises before a court ever has to.
Written by Madison Cole, Certified Wedding Planner. Updated June 2026.
Sources
- National Conference of State Legislatures — Common Law Marriage by State. ncsl.org
- Texas Law Help — Common Law Marriage. texaslawhelp.org
- Colorado Legal Services — Common Law Marriage. coloradolegalservices.org
