Oklahoma Has Long Recognized Common Law Marriage
Video Transcribed: What is a common-law marriage in the state of Oklahoma? I am Stuart Ericson, I am an attorney in Wagoner. First of all, common-law marriages in Oklahoma are allowed. They’re outside of statute, but they are a product of the laws throughout the years that are called common law, and they are allowed in Oklahoma. It’s outside of anything you would find in our statute books for marriage.
Now, there are certain elements of a common-law marriage, and they are an actual agreement to be married. You don’t have to go get married in a church, have a ring. You don’t have to go get a marriage license from the state. If two people have a mutual agreement that they’re married, that they are going to be husband and wife without all that, that is an element of common-law marriage.
Having a permanent relationship is also another element of common-law marriage. Just like a real marriage, which is permanent, a common-law marriage, if there’s the agreeme
nt and evidence of, yeah, this, is a permanent relationship where we are holding each other out, I introduce you as my wife, you’re introducing me as your husband, that is a common-law marriage. It also has to be exclusive and have to live together as man and wife and hold out publicly as being man and wife.
So that being said, it really only comes into an issue if there’s a breakup and it does happen in Oklahoma. I’ve done trials having to prove a common law marriage and that was in order to do a proper dissolution of the relationship.
So a divorce proceeding can come from a common-law marriage, which would divide property, do a division of debts. If there are children, we’d deal with all the same issues as a statutory marriage of custody and visitation.
So common law marriage would generally have to be shown to the court and it can be done. If the elements aren’t there, then a judge may say, “No, there is no common law marriage, and therefore that you can’t get a divorce. You work it all out another way.” So any questions about a common-law marriage, which does come up, my name is Stuart Ericson I am a Lawyer in Wagoner. You can reach me at WagonerLawyer.com.
