Nancy Matos

Reader Question:

“Common-law marriage in the United States was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court in “Meister v. Moore”, which ruled that Michigan had not abolished common law marriage merely by producing a statute establishing rules for the solemnization of marriages.

Could you explain “common-law marriage”?

My comments: An alternative to traditional marriage, “common-law marriage” is becoming more popular these days, especially with younger generations. “Common-law marriage” is a union in which no civil or religious ceremony has taken place, i.e. a church wedding or a getting married before a judge.

Couples who are in a “common-law marriage” may sometimes refer to their better half as their “partner” although calling each other “husband and wife” and even wearing wedding bands is common. To be recognized as being in a “common-law marriage” a couple must live together, with the length of time of cohabitation varying from country to country. For example, in Canada, a couple can be recognized as being in a “common-law marriage” after living together for twelve months.

In countries where same-sex marriages are recognized, same-sex couples can also have a “common-law marriage”.

A “common-law couple” pays bills, shares bank accounts and has all the other arrangements that a married couple would. With that also comes the same consequences and headaches of divorce that legally-recognized married couples face, like dividing assets and custody of children.

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網(wǎng)立場無關(guān)。歡迎大家討論學(xué)術(shù)問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發(fā)布一切違反國家現(xiàn)行法律法規(guī)的內(nèi)容。

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Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.