Common-Law Marriage: A Nineteenth-Century Relic with Continuing Relevance

Joanna L. Grossman writes at Findlaw: “But despite its radical drop in popularity over the course of this century, common-law marriage should not be forgotten. It is a device that still functions as an alternative way to form a marriage – or to claim with hindsight that one was formed in the past. And given the legal significance of marital status, as the determinant of a wide variety of rights and obligations, we forget about common-law marriage at our peril.”