The days of common law marriage in Alabama will soon end.
A bill passed by the Alabama Legislature earlier this year abolishes common-law marriage – a union in which people present themselves as married despite not having a formal ceremony or getting a marriage license- after Jan. 1, 2017. Common-law marriage entered into before Jan. 1, 2017 will still be valid.
The change comes in part due to the recent Supreme Court rulings related the legalizing same-sex marriages, according to former circuit judge R.A. “Sonny” Ferguson.
“The recent rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing same sex marriages nationwide have raised questions about the impact to common law marriages. The dilemma is what to do with it now,” Ferguson wrote in a recent online post about the change in marriage law. “Some have argued to abolish it completely; others have suggested amending it but leaving it in place. As a compromise, Alabama has decided to abolish it going forward, beginning Jan. 1, 2017.”
Alabama was already one of the last states to recognize common law marriage. Alabama’s change leaves only Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas and Utah as the only states with some form of the unions on the books. The legal definition for common law marriage differs from state to state but usually includes requirements related to how long a couple must live together, age and proof of relationship, such as using the same last name, or having a joint bank account.
Those factors can be open to interpretation, however, and that’s when problems arise, especially if one partner in a common-law marriage seeks to end the relationship.There’s no such thing as common law divorce, meaning a mere separation won’t end the union.
“The reasons why states like celebratory marriages, statutory marriages is because there is a fine line: You’re either married or you’re not. With common law, it’s not so clear,” family lawyer Michele Zavos told NPR. “You always have to go and prove (your side) and there’s always this uncertainty. The law doesn’t like uncertainty. The law likes bright lines. So I think more and more states are recognizing that and getting rid of it.”
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/09/common_law_marriage_in_alabama.html
” The law doesn’t like uncertainty.”
Joke, what law? You and your ilk have twisted the law into a pile of legal bs.
Screw the states laws, nobody died and left you to be God, dictating what anyone can and can’t do. Your “laws” are irrelevant! It’s all about making the state a third party into a marriage as well as ownership over off spring. Separation of church and state, remember morons!
i am ASHAMED OF Alabama. WHAT WAS ONCE THE HEART OF DIXIE HAS NOW BECOME THE SEAT FOR ROMAN SENATORS AND NIGGER COMMUNISTS… AND THE “STATE CAN KISS MY GRITS… I’LL GIT MARRIED IF I WANT TO…. I DONT NEED NO STATE PERMISSION. IF I WANT ILL MARRY MY DAMN HORSE………………
Koyote, I think this is where you call home. If so, at least there’s one man and his family that will stand and eliminate these commies.
Pass a “law” and watch the people flip their middle finger to it.
I LIVE IN NW CORNER IN THE COUNTRY. MOST MARRIAGES HERE INVOLVE FAMILY AND A PREACHER. MOST PEOPLE HERE ARE WARY OF “GOVERNMENT” . THEY STEER WIDE FROM “LICENSING”…. AND NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES “CALL THE LAW” (UNLESS THEY FIND A DEAD BODYOR THEYRE BLACK, BEANERS OR WHITE TRASH…………….. NO ONE WANTS TO BE ACCUSED BY THE GUBMENT)
Good to know there are actual areas in the country where most of the people are of like mind. Just mind end up in one of these places.
I WAS RAISED HERE……. MOVED BACK FROM OK CITY.
JILL IS A CONVERTED WISCONSIN COMMUNIST…………
ONCE YOU REALIZE WHATS HAPPENING, ITS HARD TO LIVE IN A CITY………
Spent 9 yrs. in Norman, OK, not far from OK city.
Anymore, going into a big city is nerve wracking and this is just driving amongst them.
No, the city life is not for me.
I’m in SE OK right now and admit to calling the cops on my neighbors today. If you are white trash and act like it, I don’t care if they come and shoot you. I’m not living in the country and listening to trash ghetto blasters.
PEOPLE LIKE WUSSY BOY “PIONEER” IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY………..
So I should take a gun and clean them out? I should cower in my house and let them give me a headache? I tried talking to them in my own way. I went to their place over a quarter mile away and told them to turn the music off. All I saw were teenagers. The adult types were in the dark out back and came around the house telling me not to yell at the kids. Then we went around. He told me to get off his place and I told him from now on the cops would handle them. I gave him a chance to act decently. But guys who bugger their step daughters are the type who allow step son’s to run wild. I called him White Trash to his face. That’s what he is. I don’t care if the cops shoot him. And Koyote, I’m a 55 year old woman.
-BEG PARDON MA’AM, ITS A DAMN SHAME YOU HAVE NO DECENT NEIGHBORS TO HANDLE THE ASSHOLES………….
Yes it is a shame. The only decent man in the entire neighborhood is in his 80’s who had a major stroke. The other two men are a drunk and a drug dealer. I try and avoid them also. That leaves me with the cops for men and that is down right scary as I’ve been pulled over by them for a light out on my license plate and I got to see what they are like nowadays. When I was young, the small town cops were at the best worthless, but didn’t act like Jewish jerks.
“So I should take a gun and clean them out?”
That may not be the best solution, BUT… hopefully you have a gun if THEY come to clean YOU out.
Yep, it could get interesting around here.
Gonna get interesting EVERYWHERE soon, imo.