Texas Common Law Marriage

Texas Common Law Marriage

Texas has changed common law marriage to an "informal marriage." They have codified the requirements in the statute below.

However, if you are living together, at a minimum you must have a cohabitation agreement, which you could draft yourself with easy-to-use software like that offered by Standard Legal .

Texas Law

In Texas, and Informal Marriage may be proved by:

"(a) In a judicial, administrative, or other proceeding, the marriage of a man and woman may be proved by evidence that:

(1) a declaration of their marriage has been signed as provided by this subchapter; or

(2) the man and woman agreed to be married and after the agreement they lived together in this state as husband and wife and they represented to others that they were married.

(b) If a proceeding in which a marriage is to be proved as provided by Subsection (a)(2) is not commenced before the second anniversary of the date on which the parties

separated and ceased living together, it is rebuttably presumed that the parties did not enter into an agreement to be married.

(c) A person under 18 years of age may not:

(1) be a party to an informal marriage; or

(2) execute a declaration of informal marriage under Section 2.402.

(d) A person may not be a party to an informal marriage or execute a declaration of an informal marriage if the person is presently married to a person who is not the other party to the informal marriage or declaration of an informal marriage, as applicable."

(Tex. Fam. Code § 2.401 (2009), replacing former Tex. Fam. Code § 1.91).

What is important to remember is that if you are not married, there are various rights that a couple must protect for themselves and their loved ones. Many times the validity of a common law marriage is never brought up until one of the common law spouses dies. Then the burden falls on the surviving common law spouse to prove that they were common law married — which is not the easiest thing to do.

You can do something to protect your rights immediately, and without the expense and hassle of hiring an attorney. One service, is the Legal Zoom service in in the advertisement below, who will draft living trusts, living wills, regular wills and other legal documents for you. They’ve helped thousands of satisfied customers, and they guarantee their work, and it’s 85% less than what I would have to charge as an attorney.

The second way to protect yourself is to at least have a cohabitation agreement , and you can always add a living trust, living will or regular will later. There is an excellent legal software program that allows you to draft your own cohabitation agreements, and it’s not expensive at all! The product is from Standard Legal (see the banner above) and if you click on the banner you can see the details and the special promotional pricing from our website.

If you’re not sure if you’re common law married, take immediate steps now to protect your rights by having someone else draft your documents (by attorney-supervised experts like Legal Zoom below [but at 85% less the cost than my law firm would charge]) or at a minimum, get a cohabitation agreement, which you can draft yourself with some super software from the folks at Standard Legal above.

Protect yourself, protect your loved ones, take action now before its too late. You don’t want to have to hire an attorney, which will cost you thousands of dollars, if you don’t have to when you can take a small step now to protect you and your loved ones. For the long term, couples living together should consider a Living Will, Living Trust or simple Will. You don’t have to hire an attorney if you’re the average American. There are attorney-supervised services, such as Legal Zoom, who will prepare these more complex documents for you, and you can save up to 85% from regular attorney’s fees.