Common Law Marriage New York

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – managed by Todd Spodek, a second-generation law firm with over 40 years of combined experience in family law and matrimonial matters throughout New York. When couples ask whether their long-term relationship qualifies as common law marriage in New York, the answer is simple: **No**. New York abolished common law marriage in 1933. You can live together for fifty years, file joint tax returns, call each other husband and wife, raise children, buy property together – none of that creates a legal marriage in New York without a marriage license and formal ceremony. This matters enormously when relationships end or partners die, because without legal marriage, you have *no* spousal rights to property division, spousal support, or inheritance.

But there’s an exception that creates significant litigation – New York recognizes common law marriages validly formed in other states. If you lived in Texas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, or the District of Columbia and met that state’s requirements, New York will recognize it under the Full Faith and Credit Clause. The problem? Proving you formed a valid marriage under another state’s law often requires contested litigation, especially when one partner claims the marriage existed and the other denies it.

What the Prohibition Actually Means

New York eliminated common law marriage in 1933, and the prohibition is absolute. No marriage license and formal ceremony? Not married. Period. House in one person’s name? That person keeps it – even if the other partner paid mortgage for twenty years. No marriage means no maintenance obligation, regardless of income disparities or career sacrifices. When an unmarried partner dies without a will, the surviving partner inherits nothing. Children inherit. Parents inherit. Siblings inherit. Your partner of decades? Zero. Health insurance, pension survivor benefits, Social Security – all require legal marriage.

We handle cases where couples mistakenly believed their long-term relationship created spousal rights. They split after fifteen years, one partner earned significantly more, the other gave up career to raise children. In a divorce, that triggers maintenance and equitable distribution. Without legal marriage? The lower-earning partner leaves with nothing.

The Other-State Exception

New York will recognize a common law marriage if it was validly formed in another state that permits such marriages. This sounds straightforward – if you were common law married in Texas before moving to New York, your marriage is valid here. But “validly formed” requires meeting the specific legal requirements of the state where the marriage allegedly arose, and those requirements vary significantly.

States that still recognize this generally require present intent to be married (both parties must currently agree they’re married, not just planning future marriage), cohabitation (living together as spouses, not occasional overnight visits), and public representation as married (telling friends, family, employers, government agencies that you’re married). Filing joint tax returns, using the same last name, introducing each other as spouse, listing “married” on official documents.

When couples separate or one partner dies, disputes arise about whether these elements existed. One partner claims they formed a marriage in Colorado during the two years they lived there. The other partner denies ever agreeing to be married, argues they never represented themselves as married publicly, claims the relationship was always understood as non-marital. Now you’re litigating in New York courts whether a marriage existed in Colorado – requiring testimony, evidence of how you introduced each other, tax return filings, lease agreements, witness statements from people who knew you during the Colorado period.

Strategic Claims

The other-state exception invites strategic fraud. When unmarried couples break up in New York, the economically disadvantaged partner has incentive to claim they formed a common law marriage during a brief period living together in another state. “We spent six months in Texas in 2018 – that created a marriage, so you owe me spousal support and half the property.” The other partner denies it, but now they’re defending against claims that require disproving intent, cohabitation, and public representation from years ago.

These cases turn on credibility, witness testimony, and circumstantial evidence. Did you file taxes as married or single? Did you introduce each other as spouses at social events? Did official documents list you as married? When the evidence is ambiguous, litigation becomes expensive and unpredictable.

Property Consequences

Without legal marriage, property stays with whoever holds title. House solely in your partner’s name – even if you contributed to down payment, mortgage, renovations? You have no ownership claim absent expensive litigation proving constructive trust or unjust enrichment. Bank accounts, retirement accounts, investment portfolios – all determined by whose name appears on title. When married couples divorce, New York divides marital property based on fairness. When unmarried couples separate, no such protection.

Death Without Marriage

For married spouses, the surviving spouse inherits substantially. For unmarried partners? *Nothing*. The estate passes to children, parents, siblings, distant relatives. Your partner of twenty years has no inheritance rights.

Families of the deceased can exclude the surviving partner entirely – from the home they shared, from accounts, from possessions. We’ve represented surviving partners who discovered their longtime partner’s estranged adult children inherited everything and immediately evicted them from the home they’d shared for decades. Wills solve this – but only if executed properly and not successfully challenged. Disinherited family members often contest wills leaving assets to unmarried partners, claiming undue influence.

Alternatives Don’t Provide Full Protection

Couples who choose not to marry can use legal tools to approximate some spousal rights, but none provide comprehensive protection equivalent to marriage. Cohabitation agreements specify property division, financial support, and obligations if the relationship ends – enforceable like any contract, but limited to what the parties explicitly agreed to. Unlike divorce law, which imposes equitable distribution and maintenance based on statutory factors, cohabitation agreements only bind to their written terms. Domestic partnerships in New York City and some localities offer limited rights like hospital visitation and health insurance coverage, but don’t create property division rights, spousal support obligations, or inheritance rights equivalent to marriage. Titling property jointly creates co-ownership for that specific asset only. Wills, powers of attorney, healthcare proxies can grant decision-making authority and direct inheritance, but they don’t create the automatic legal rights marriage provides, and they’re vulnerable to challenge.

These alternatives require proactive legal planning – most unmarried couples don’t execute them. Marriage automatically creates comprehensive legal rights without requiring separate documentation for each asset or decision type. When couples avoid marriage for personal or philosophical reasons but want legal protections, they need experienced counsel to draft enforceable agreements covering property, support, medical decisions, inheritance, and other rights married couples receive automatically. We’re available 24/7. Call us.