Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

Re: common law marriage

Virginia does not recognize common law marriages unless the common law marriage occurred in another state which recognizes it, and the parties then move to Va. In other words if the parties do all that is required under the laws of another state which would then recognize the marriage, and then the parties moved to Va., our state would accept the marriage, as it occurred legally elsewhere.

Re: common law marriage

The same thing it is in every other state, a marriage or purported marriage without any legally recognized civil ceremony. The question you probably meant to ask is: when is it recognized?

It can be recognized in order to legitimize children, as provided in the following code section:

� 20-31.1. When marriage legitimates children; issue of marriages prohibited by law, etc., legitimate.

Statute text

If a person, having had a child, shall afterwards intermarry with the mother or father, such child if recognized by both of them, as their own child, jointly or separately, before or after marriage, shall be deemed legitimate.

The issue of marriages prohibited by law, deemed null or void or dissolved by a court shall nevertheless be legitimate.

History

(1978, c. 647.)

The failure of Virginia to recognize common law marriages can wreak havoc in other situations. For example, in workers compensation death benefits cases, the common law spouse is precluded from collecting the death benefit, as shown in the synopsis of Virginia appellate cases which follow:

A partner in a common law marriage is precluded from qualifying as a dependent under either � 65.1-66 (now � 65.2-515) or � 65.1-67 (now � 65.2-516). However, the common law partner's son from a previous marriage may be awarded proportional benefits if partial dependency can be established. Wingfield/Dawson v. Thomas Roofing, 65 O.I.C. 309 (1986).

The evidence failed to establish a valid common law marriage pursuant to the laws of Texas. Therefore the claimant was not entitled to benefits under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act. Teitsch v. SG Communications, 71 O.W.C. 52 (1992).

The Commission declined to give full faith and credit to an order of a New York Court regarding the Texas common-law marriage of the decedent because a plea of res judicata would not have been sustained if the workers' compensation action had been brought before the New York Workers' Compensation Board. Teitsch v. SG Communications, 71 O.W.C. 52 (1992)

As far as common law marriages that take place in Virginia, the statutory law is very clear:

� 20-13. License and solemnization required.

Every marriage in this Commonwealth shall be under a license and solemnized in the manner herein provided.

(Code 1919, � 5071.)

The bottom line is: if you want to be married in Virginia, and be sure you are married, get married in a civil ceremony. Otherwise, bad things can definitely happen. Of course, some people think bad things happen when you DO get married. Oh, well, you can't please everybody.

Re: common law marriage

Virginia does not recognize common law marriage if the marriage was supposedly contracted in Virginia. On the other hand, Virginia will recognize a common law marriage contracted in one of the fourteen states that recognize such marriages under a theory that a marriage valid where celebrated ought to be valid eveerywhere.