Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania

Re: common law marriage

Common law marriage is extremely difficult to prove in PA and, for all intents and purposes, is extinct. The Pa. Supreme Court issued an opinion in 1998 which was authored by Madame Justice Sandra Schultz Newman. She was a long time prominent family attorney before taking the bench in the Commonwealth Court.

The Pa. Supreme Court noted that the original purpose of common law marriage was to recognize those cases where a man and woman would, for all intents and purposes, act as husband and wife, hold themselves out to be husband and wife and the community would recognize them as husband and wife. In the early days of the Commonwealth, it was more difficult to travel and obtain a legal marriage. By contrast, today there is little or no difficulty for anyone to become legally married and there is no reason for the state to sanction an alleged common law arangement.

I do not mean to state that a common law marriage is flatly impossible, simply extremely difficult to prove. Consequently, I suggest you simply take the proper legal steps to become married.

I trust this has been helpful, but feel free to call or e-mail with any questions.