According to the Texas Family Code, common law marriage is not recognized in the state of Texas. In layman’s terms, this means that if you live with your partner and hold yourselves out as husband and wife but have never had a formal wedding ceremony or obtained a marriage license, you are not considered married in the eyes of the law.
There are a few other states that have similar laws, but Texas is one of the most rigid when it comes to common law marriage. Let’s take a moment to understand what common law marriage is, how it works, and why Texas doesn’t recognize it.
How Common Law Marriage Works (or Used to Work)
In years past, before marriages had to be licensed and registered with the state, common law marriages were actually pretty common (pun intended). If a man and woman wanted to be considered married, they would simply start behaving as husband and wife. This usually meant living together and introducing each other using marital terms like “my husband” or “my wife.”
In some cases, a couple might even go so far as to file joint tax returns or purchase property together. As long as they behaved like a married couple in all respects, the courts would usually consider them married—even without a formal ceremony or legal document to back it up.
Common law marriages were originally created as a way of protecting women’s property rights. In those days, wives didn’t have any legal standing on their own—everything they owned belonged to their husbands. So if a woman wanted to keep her property after her husband died (or if she wanted to divorce him), she needed some way of proving that they were actually married. That’s where common law marriages came in.
Why doesn’t Texas recognize common law marriages?
Texas is one of only a handful of states that doesn’t currently recognize common law marriage—and there’s actually a pretty interesting story behind it. Back in the 1800s, there was a Texan cowboy named Charles Schreiner who fell in love with and began living with a woman named Alice Grier. The two never bothered with getting married formally, but they considered themselves husband and wife all the same.
Eventually Alice had a baby, who she named Charles Schreiner Jr. Loving father Charles Sr. doted on little Charles Jr., taking him everywhere he went—including into saloons. But when Alice died suddenly in 1883, her parents sued Charles Sr., claiming that he was an unfit father because he took Alice’s son into bars with him. They also argued that Alice and Charles Sr.’s relationship wasn’t truly marital because they hadn’t gone through a formal ceremony or obtained a marriage license—in other words, they weren’t legally married under common law standards.
Charles Sr.’s case eventually made its way to the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor— but only barely. In its opinion, the court wrote that while Charles Sr.’s relationship with Alice may have been marital under common law standards, the cowboy lifestyle he led made him an unfit father for little Charles Jr.. The court also used strong language to express its disapproval of common law marriage, saying that it “runs counter to public policy” and should not be recognized by the state of Texas.
Following this ruling, the Texas Legislature passed a bill outlawing common law marriage entirely—and that’s why Texas is one of the only states in which common law marriage isn’t currently recognized. So if you’re cohabitating with your significant other without being formally married…Technically speaking, you’re not actually married in the eyes of the Lone Star State!
There you have it! That’s everything you need to know about common law marriage in Texas. While it may be technically possible to enter into a common law marriage in other states, here in Texas it’s not recognized by the courts—so if you’re not formally married, you’re not considered married under state law.