common law?

It may vary from one place to another, but basically, it’s when two people live together in a platonic relationship for a certain amount of time - where I’m from, it’s one year.

Pennsylvania recognized Common-law Marriages until about 10 years ago. Now they do not. Back then, there was NO time period that the relationship had to undergo.

And as Mikeh says, “For a marriage to be considered common-law, the individuals involved must be essentially living as husband and wife would in every respect except for the license. Once a certain amount of time has elapsed living as husband and wife (or husband and husband/wife and wife, etc), the state basically says “Okay, fine, if you don’t want to get married, we’ll still recognize you as spouses.”

So you will have to check to see the particulars of the law where you live.

Take care and Good Luck!!

Common-law marriages have nothing to do with platonic relationships whatsoever. In fact, if the relationship IS platonic, it would be incredibly difficult to have any common-law state recognize the relationship as legally binding.

For a marriage to be considered common-law, the individuals involved must be essentially living as husband and wife would in every respect except for the license. Once a certain amount of time has elapsed living as husband and wife (or husband and husband/wife and wife, etc), the state basically says “Okay, fine, if you don’t want to get married, we’ll still recognize you as spouses. Here’s your tax break.”

If the state found out that the two involved were platonic but still trying to get marriage benefits, things would grind to a halt rather quickly.

thanks : )

is it strictly platonic?