Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: common law marriage

The public truly has no clue as to what a common law marriage is in Texas! U've answered this question many times before on www.lawguru.com but here it is again --

Basically (I'm summarizing the law quite a bit -- you can read the Texas Family Code available on the internet for the exact wording) -- You must mutually agree to be married and you must let the public know you intend to be married.

For example, if you file taxes as married - then the IRS will consider you married. If you list the person on your health or car insurance as your spouse, you are common law married.

There is not time limit. You can be together one day and be common law married. And, you can live together for 20 years and never be common law married. Many years ago when a man registered in a hotel as "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", that showed intent for a common law marriage.

You can only be married to one person at a time so if one of the people are legally married to someone else -- a common law marriage can never exist.

After people separate, they have up to 2 years to file for divorce. After a 2 year separation in common law marriages, the court loses jurisdiction to grant you a divorce.

I hope this information is helpful.

Good luck!

Fran Brochstein

www.familylaw4u.com