1
1stdude
Guest
My wife has Insurance provided to her through her employer. When she began employment there, we were not married, but we had been living together for over four years prior to her start date. I had been included on her insurance with a previous employer. At the advice given by an administrator at this previous employer, my wife had been claiming me as her spouse, even though at the time we did not have a marriage certificate. My wife was informed, by that administrator, that we had lived together long enough to be recognized by the State of Texas as being legally married, under the "Common Law Marriage" laws of Texas.
The current employer has begun to garnish my wifes wages to compensate them for the money they paid to the insurance company for covering me during the periods of June 2000, to May 2001, the length of time my wife has been at her current employer, and also the length of time I have been included on the insurance until we were married on April 28th, 2001. This is an amount totalling near $7,000.00. I and my wife were under the impression, based on the information given by the former employers administrator that we were within our legal rights under Texas law to claim "Common Law" marriage.
My question is:
Are we able to claim being "Common Law Married" as long as we have both signed a lease aggrement, even though we have not obtained any "official" documentation from the State of Texas?
The current employer has begun to garnish my wifes wages to compensate them for the money they paid to the insurance company for covering me during the periods of June 2000, to May 2001, the length of time my wife has been at her current employer, and also the length of time I have been included on the insurance until we were married on April 28th, 2001. This is an amount totalling near $7,000.00. I and my wife were under the impression, based on the information given by the former employers administrator that we were within our legal rights under Texas law to claim "Common Law" marriage.
My question is:
Are we able to claim being "Common Law Married" as long as we have both signed a lease aggrement, even though we have not obtained any "official" documentation from the State of Texas?