South Dakota Common Law Marriage
Posted by Molly
Many states used to recognize what is usually called a “common law” marriage. Common law is the term for two people who act as if they are married, and everyone believes they are married, but they have never been formally married. The states that recognize this consider it just as binding as a formal marriage. South Dakota did away with the right to common law marriage in 1959, so there is no way to have a common law marriage there now. The exception to this rule is if you lived in a state that did have common law marriage, so you are already in such a relationship with someone, and you then moved to South Dakota. The state would recognize the relationship as common law, because it had already been validated elsewhere.
Today I’d like to talk a little bit about the rules that determine whether people are in a common law marriage. There is a big misunderstanding about how you come to be common law married. If you have lived together for a certain length of time, usually 6 or 7 years, people think you are married under the law. The fact is that how long you have lived together has nothing to do with it.
In a common law marriage state, there are certain criteria that are used to determine the status of your relationship. For example, do you have an agreement that you are married? Is that an agreement that is publicly known, so that there are people around you who refer to you as a married couple, or who believe that you are?
In some states, simply intending to be “married” and having other people believe that you are is enough. In others, you have to take action within the first couple of years to pursue a status as a common law marriage; otherwise it is considered living together and is not valid. AT any rate, South Dakota is not one of the states that recognizes common law marriage.
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