Legal Question in Insurance Law in Pennsylvania

I live in Pennsylvania. My "husband" & I have been together & living together for 9 1/2 years and engaged for 8 1/2. We assume we have a common law marriage but have never filed taxes together nor do I use his last name. We just found out that our relationship does constitue a common law marriage and intend to ammend our last 3 years taxes to show this (assuming it is beneficiali to us) because the IRS said that we were eligible to file as married for at least the last 6 years. We both work for the same, large, global corporation. I have been covered under his insurance for at least 6 years as a domestic partner. We are being told by the corporation that they (the corporation) do not recognize common law marriages and therefore, we can not have insurance as such. Is it valid for the corporation to trump the state & federal law?


Asked on 1/11/11, 7:12 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Senker Senker Law Office

Don't be so certain that you and your domestic partner are common-law husband and wife--it's arguable that you do not have a common-law marriage. Just b/c the IRS permits you to be considered to be married, that does not mean that all "authorities" must recognize your relationship as a marriage. If you want to fight your employer's decision, you would be wise to pay an atty to do some research for you and write a letter to your employer.

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Answered on 1/16/11, 8:47 am


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