Common Law Marriage and Divorce in Texas Common-law marriage or informal marriage between a man and a woman has been recognized in Texas for a long time. In 2015, the law was extended to include same-sex couples. Under Texas law, three main requirements must be met in order to establish common-law marriage. Specifically, two individuals must:
- Agree to be married;
- Live together as husband and wife; and
- Represent to others that they are married.
All three elements must exist at the same time to establish a common-law marriage.
Under Texas law, minors are strictly excluded from common law marriage, and cannot enter into a common-law marriage no matter how many requirements they meet, or whether they have abiding parents who have consented.
Once common law marriage has been established, the marriage has the same legal bearing as a conventional marriage, and thus requires a formal divorce in court with the attendant asset distribution and child custody issues, in order to dissolve the marriage entirely.
Texas Common Law Divorce Lawyers
The Houston based Common Law Divorce lawyers at AnunobiLaw PLLC are skilled at guiding clients that may be involved in a common law marriage. Our attorneys assist clients asserting their rights to community property or defending unfounded claims to community property based on common law marriage.
Our Common Law Divorce Attorneys assist clients with informal/common law divorce claims all over Texas but practice mainly in Houston, Sugar Land, The Woodlands, Katy and Cypress.