Ohio No Longer Recognizes Common Law Marriage After 1991
I’m sure most, if not all, have at least heard of the term “common law marriage“. By legal definition, a common law marriage is a marriage that doesn’t quite rise to the level of a legal, formal marriage, but is created by the two parties, who co-habit together and hold themselves out to their community as married. A legal marriage has a licensing component, and a certain level of solemnization requirement that might not be met by a common law marriage.
While common law marriages aren’t scarce, they are less common than they used to be. Prior to the widespread availability of easy transportation and the internet, people in remote areas of the country, especially out west, would need to wait around for the circuit-riding pastor to arrive in order to officially wed. Without a formal schedule, people began to pair off and held their own ceremonies before their family and friends and would hold themselves out in the community as married, even without all of the official paperwork being filed. After so long, no one really recalled that so-and-so weren’t actually legally married by the pastor.