OK Supreme Court says common-law marriage is still alive

Oklahoma remains one of about only a dozen states that recognize common-law marriages. Despite the legislature's sporadic attempts to effectively abolish such marriages, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has recently determined (in the case Erlandson v. Coppedge) common-law marriage in Oklahoma is still alive and well.

What is common-law marriage?

A common-law marriage exists if, at any point while two unmarried people are living together in an exclusive relationship, there is a meeting of the minds that—despite the fact they never appeared before a priest, minister, rabbi, or justice of the peace—they "consider" themselves married and hold themselves out to the public somehow as being such.

There is no single act guaranteed to automatically cause two people living together to suddenly become married by common law. Filing a joint tax return doesn't necessarily do it. One person designating the other as a spouse on an insurance form doesn't necessarily do it. It's important to note, though, that each of these acts can be used as strong evidence to support a common-law-marriage claim. And there's no minimum amount of time two people must live together before a common-law marriage can be established.