Common-Law Marriage: 10 Ways to Know If You Could Be Involved In a Common-Law Marriage:

1. Filing a federal income tax return with the other person named as your spouse;
2. Obtaining a life insurance policy and identifying the other party as your spouse and designating them as beneficiary;
3. Purchasing a home or other real property where the deed is signed by you and the other person as husband and wife;
4. Taking out a loan with the other person being identified as either your husband/wife;
5. Sending cards or letters to the other party that state “from your loving husband,” or “to my loving wife;”
6. Hosting or attending a party in Texas where you introduce the other person as your spouse;
7. Signing a guest book at a wedding, etc. as “Mr. and Mrs.”;
8. Your family members referring to him as their son-in-law;
9. Introducing the other person to your colleagues, neighbors, and/or friends as your husband/wife; and/or
10. You and the other person have an agreement to live like husband and wife and be a married couple.

Next week I will be discussing examples of situations where Courts in Texas have either found that a common-law marriage existed or not, as well as the legal effects of a common-law marriage in Texas.