Jeff Anderson looks at how Texas courts are addressing the question of how to address pre-Obergefell common-law marriage claims of same-sex couples in “Same-Sex and the Common-Law Marriage” in the January issue of Texas Lawyer.
“As with opposite-sex couples, the determination of a common-law marriage is fact-driven. So here’s what it comes down to: Although the Texas Supreme Court has yet to encounter the issue, appellate cases are finding that informal marriages may be found to have existed retroactive to Obergefell. And, as these fact-intensive cases get decided, the difficult part for the same-sex partner wishing to prove an earlier common-law union will be to show that a marriage union existed, given the fact that the law, pre-June 26, 2015, would not recognize it.”
Read the entire article at Texas Lawyer.