The gray of common law marriage?

[Robsinson]

What is the name of your state? South Carolina.

I've read a number of articles about common law marriage as it pertains to SC, and the criteria that is required for common law to be established. But some of it seems to fall into the "my word vs. your word" category.

Case in point, my mother was living with a man in Oregon for approximately 10 months to a year. In October, they moved cross country to SC and my mother passed away a couple of months later. He is now presenting himself as a common law spouse. However, they never shared any accts together, nor filed taxes together and I've never heard my mom speak of marriage, nor did they ever present themselves as husband-and-wife. I feel though that some of these are points that could be contested. This seems to be a stretch but could he legally qualify as a common law husband?

Thanks in advance...

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? South Carolina.

I've read a number of articles about common law marriage as it pertains to SC, and the criteria that is required for common law to be established. But some of it seems to fall into the "my word vs. your word" category.

Case in point, my mother was living with a man in Oregon for approximately 10 months to a year. In October, they moved cross country to SC and my mother passed away a couple of months later. He is now presenting himself as a common law spouse. However, they never shared any accts together, nor filed taxes together and I've never heard my mom speak of marriage, nor did they ever present themselves as husband-and-wife. I feel though that some of these are points that could be contested. This seems to be a stretch but could he legally qualify as a common law husband?

Thanks in advance...

Common law marriages are proved in divorce or death (i.e., probate) cases and they are fact intensive. That means the court must add up all the facts and see if there is a common law marriage or not. There is no way anyone could hazard a guess as to what will happen in this case.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

You also have to remember that since they were living together in a state that doesn't recognize common law marriage, that they would not have to do any of those things to prove a common law marriage there, in fact, filing taxes together as married would have been fraud, until the moved to SC, however, filing for social security death benefits and/or him making claims as to marriage might be enough. Since they had been together so long why would you not recognize the relationship? Is it because you are hoping for more from your mother's estate?

 

[Robsinson]

Thanks for the replies - yes, its a bit squirrely, for sure.

Since they had been together so long why would you not recognize the relationship? Is it because you are hoping for more from your mother's estate?

They were only together for, at most, a year. Given this, and how my mom presented their relationship (she refered to him always as her BF), I don't believe that he should be entitled to half her worth.

-R

 

[rmet4nzkx]

Thanks for the replies - yes, its a bit squirrely, for sure.




They were only together for, at most, a year. Given this, and how my mom presented their relationship (she refered to him always as her BF), I don't believe that he should be entitled to half her worth.

-R

He can still prove this by representing that they were married and filing next year as married w/deceased spouse under SC law. How large an estate? Did your mother have a will? 401K retirement? Home?

 

[seniorjudge]

He can still prove this by representing that they were married and filing next year as married w/deceased spouse under SC law. How large an estate? Did your mother have a will? 401K retirement? Home?

Correct; it only takes a second to become married by common law (as a general rule). As I said, this is heavily fact-intensive. We cannot possibly know all the facts.

 

[Robsinson]

He can still prove this by representing that they were married and filing next year as married w/deceased spouse under SC law. How large an estate? Did your mother have a will? 401K retirement? Home?

No will from what my brothers and sisters or I have found. We're still assessing the estate's value, so we're not sure yet. She did purchase a house when she moved down to SC, so we're still looking into the details of that. 401k: Yes, with my siblings and I as beneficiaries.

The bottom line is that we've never liked her BF much (from the little time they've been together) and always felt that he was involved with her for the financial stability (she frequently mentioned that he was a financial mess). It just gets under my skin to think that he'll be entitled to half of my mothers assets based calling himself my mom's common law husband at the proper moment - something she probably would have contested herself.

To seniorjudge's point, I hope that once the court looks into her assets, they'll see that there's very little to indicate that my mom viewed them as a common law couple.

-R