**Common Law Marriage** (noun) — A marital relationship recognized by some jurisdictions based on the couple living together and presenting themselves as married, without a formal ceremony or marriage license.
Common law marriage means being considered legally married without having an official ceremony or marriage license. In places that recognize it, if you live together as a couple and present yourselves as married for sufficient time, you become legally married.
The requirements vary significantly by jurisdiction. Some places don't recognize common law marriage at all. Others require specific elements: living together for a certain period, presenting yourselves publicly as married, intending to be married, and sometimes consummating the relationship.
Many people mistakenly believe common law marriage happens automatically after living together for a certain time. In reality, where it exists, it requires more than just cohabitation—you must hold yourselves out as married.
⏱ When you'll encounter this term
Common law marriage affects estate planning significantly. If you're in a common law marriage, your partner has the same inheritance rights as a formally married spouse. If you're living together but not in a common law marriage, they have no automatic inheritance rights at all.
This distinction matters when someone dies without a will. A common law spouse might inherit everything under intestacy laws, while a partner in a jurisdiction that doesn't recognize common law marriage gets nothing unless named in a will.
You'll encounter this issue when administering estates in jurisdictions that recognize common law marriage, or when couples have moved between jurisdictions with different rules. Proving or disproving a common law marriage can be complex, requiring evidence of how the couple presented themselves, what they told others, and how they structured their affairs.
**Related terms:** [Spouse](/dictionary/spouse), [Intestate Succession](/dictionary/intestate-succession), [Beneficiary](/dictionary/beneficiary)
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"My partner and I lived together for 15 years and everyone thought we were married, but Queensland doesn't recognize common law marriage, so when he died without a will, I inherited nothing as his de facto partner."