Question about Oklahoma common law marriage often arise when a couple makes the decision to part ways. If a frequent law marriage can result from casual agreements, can it be just as easy to get a common law divorce? The answer isn't always straightforward.
If a person asserts a plausible legal conflict based on common law marriage oklahoma, a counterclaim asserting an informal common law divorce will not hold up. If nobody has maintained a legal claim of common law union, if the elements of a common law marriage oklahoma are present complications can later arise unless your divorce is formalized.
Concerns about common law marriage Oklahoma also appear when one party wants to remarry, or even a spouse dies. A frequent law partner may allege bigamy when a spouse enters another marriage without formalizing a divorce lawyer. A subsequent union may even be invalidated when a prior common law marriage oklahoma is not properly dissolved. Children or former spouses might argue in probate proceedings that a long time common law spouse isn't entitled to a share of an estate because there was never a marriage ceremony.
Oklahoma Common Law Marriage Requirements
To Ascertain whether a claim of common law marriage Oklahoma is valid, courts consider a few factors:
Each party must be of legal age and not married to someone else.
Whether there's a mutual agreement to be married.
Whether the relationship was meant to be permanent.
Whether the couple lives together as husband and wife.
Whether the couple represents themselves to the community as wed.
An old adage that presumes common law union is automatic after a few lives together for a certain number of years -- even sharing a bed for a long time -- is simply not true. Likewise, having kids together doesn't automatically make a union. Courts need some sort of evidence to establish that a few has mutually agreed to a Oklahoma common law marriage.
If a few announced to friends, family and others that they're husband and wife, they would be well on their way to establishing a common law marriage oklahoma. Social declarations of a union , however, might be insufficient to convince a court a marriage is legitimate. In the event the couple used the exact same last name, the frequent law union would more likely be recognized as legitimate.
More convincing evidence may involve documentation. Along with public representations of a permanent mutual arrangement, joint loans, joint bank accounts, shared mortgagesshared or shared land title provide strong evidence of a frequent law marriage. Joint tax returns are powerful evidence of a frequent law marriage. Health insurance policies bought as a married couple or a joint bankruptcy can be evidence of a common law marriage oklahoma.
What About Common Law Divorce in Oklahoma?
Though a common law union might start with casual arrangements reached in private then shared with friends and in company records, a similarly casual arrangement isn't a legitimate method to end an Oklahoma common law marriage. To rely on a casual mutual agreement to end a frequent law marriage can lead to problems in the future.
If a couple has filed joint tax returns, moving to another house may be inadequate to shield 1 partner from the taxation liabilities of the former common law spouse. A joint bank account that was once a symbol of shared commitment could become a legal liability if a partner does not formally end a union.
A common law marriage which ends in divorce follows exactly the very same rules as any other Oklahoma divorce, with the exception that the presence of a valid common law marriage oklahoma could be more challenging to prove. Divorce proceedings permit for equitable division of marital property. A divorce erases all uncertainty on your right to remarry after a common law marriage oklahoma.
Parental roles and obligations are settled in divorce proceedings. One spouse may qualify for spousal support or alimony sufficient to keep a standard of living they enjoyed as a consequence of the union. An official divorce can also provide protection to your estate after you die.
Tulsa Common Law Marriage Attorney
More frequently than not, people strategy a Tulsa divorce attorney about Oklahoma common law marriage whenever they want out of a relationship. There are other times, however, when common law partners that spent many long years together may have to find stronger footing, looking perhaps at retirement or estate planning. Adoption, guardianships as well as immigration concerns can also be affected by common law union in Oklahoma.
Tulsa family lawyers at Wirth Law Office advise clients in all stages of law union. To get a free consultation with an Oklahoma common law marriage attorney. You may also send us your questions about common law marriage Oklahoma using the form at the peak of the webpage.
Comments