I've heard several commentators refer to Michael Schiavo's living arrangments as being a common law marriage. Common law marriage has not been recognized in the state of Florida since, oh, 1967 or thereabouts. Common law marriages in effect at the time were "grandfathered" into the law, but no relationship after that would be considered as common law.
Just living together and having children together does not create a common law marriage. I would guess that all states that recognize common law marriage have certain requirements, but may have some differences. I won't go into what the requirements are because I haven't researched it. The only state I have actual knowledge of is Florida, and as I stated, it doesn't recognize common law marriage.
I learned this in a legal law class I took back in the 80's. It's possible the law has changed since then, but I doubt it.
It's a point, among many in this case, that has been nagging at me.
hmmm....maybe this would be a way for same-sex couples to have a legal relationship?
2 comments:
Where I come from (New York), what Michael Schiavo is doing isn't called common law marriage. It's called adultery.
Ironically, under New York law Terri could divorce him for it and he would forfeit his "legal guardian" status.
Go figure.
Florida is a "no fault divorce" state. Of course, she would have all kinds of reasons to divorce him if she could.
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