Wedding bells don’t ring as frequently as they used to, according to U.S. Census data that shows the number of couples opting to cohabit rather than marry has more than doubled since the 1990s. Among these modern live-in couples who eschew formal marriage, however, there can be confusion about the legal status of their relationship. Most notably: Does living together as committed partners … buying a home together, and perhaps even raising children together … somehow trigger the protections of common law marriage?

A recent report from National Public Radio, “No, You’re Not In a Common Law Marriage After 7 Years Together,” delved into the still-pervasive notion that if two partners live together for a long time—seven years, according to popular myth—they automatically enter into the centuries-old bonds of informal sui juris marriage, or “common law” marriage. In a shrinking minority of states, where the formation of common law marriages is still allowed, this belief may contain a kernel of truth. In New Jersey, where the practice of common law marriage was statutorily ended in 1939, the treatment of common law marriage is murky. You can’t start one in the Garden State any longer, but if you are part of a couple that formed a common law marriage in a state where it is still legal to do so, your marriage could still be recognized in New Jersey, as long as you are able to prove its validity.

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