I used to get lots of questions about common law marriage. Lately, well, not so much – until the other day. A woman asked me what, in my opinion, was a very perceptive question about whether marriage is designed to be a safeguard to protect spouses (and, in particular, lesser earning spouses). Most of the...
Does Virginia recognize common law marriage?
If you read my article on Monday about common law marriage in Virginia, you should know by now that sometimes I write articles about things that don’t exist as much as things that do. (See also my article on Pro Bono divorce assistance.) I write it mostly because I find that these are common misconceptions...
Okay, so, the headline of this article, “Common Law Marriage in Virginia” is a little misleading, and I’ll tell you why. There is NO common law marriage in Virginia. Common law marriage is a thing, at least in some states, but it isn’t in Virginia. The theory there, which I assume you already know, is...