SOP 220.06-att-1: Explanation of Common-Law Marriage

SOP 220.06
Attachment 1

3/27/20

Explanation of Common-Law Marriage

A. Relevant Law: In Georgia, a common-law marriage is established when requirements are
met all at the same time (O.C.G.A. §19-3-1). The requirements are:

1. Parties able to marry. To be able to contract marriage, a person must be of sound
mind, be at least 16 years of age (or have parental consent or pregnant partner before
16), be unmarried, and not be marrying his or her parent or step-parent, child or
stepchild, sibling or half-sibling, grandparent or grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece or
nephew (O.C.G.A. §§ 19-3-2 and 19-3-3).

2. An agreement to live together as husband and wife. The agreement to marry
must be a present agreement. If the two of you plan to marry in the future, you are
NOT common-law married. To have a valid common-law marriage, there must be
an agreement to be husband and wife immediately from the time when the mutual
agreement is made (O.C.G.A. § 19-3-4).

3. The two parties living together (cohabitation) ( O.C.G.A. § 19-3-1).

4. Must have been established prior to January 1, 1997 (O.C.G.A. § 19-3-1.1).

Therefore, to be common-law married, you and your common-law spouse must have been
able to marry, agreed to be married, and lived together all at the same time, prior to
January 1, 1997. Anything less is not a common-law marriage.

B. Legal Effect of Common-Law Marriage: A common-law marriage has the same legal
effects as a ceremonial marriage. Children born of the marriage are legitimate and are the
heirs of both parties. The parties have the right of inheritance from each other. Property
acquired together becomes marital property. Probably most importantly, the common-law
marriage must be dissolved by divorce the same as a ceremonial marriage. There is no
"common-law divorce."

C. Common-Law Spouse as Visitor: To have your common-law spouse on your visitation
list, you and your spouse must sign (before a notary public) the attached affidavits attesting
that you are common-law married and you must return it to the intake counselor. You can
see the counselor about having the affidavit notarized; your spouse can go to a bank, the
courthouse, or just about any government building and find a notary public. The commonlaw spouse will not be added to your visitation list until the completed affidavits are on file.

NOTE: You should be aware that the visitation list is usually expanded after the diagnostic period
to include various relatives and other significant relationships. However, if you have a spouse, you
may not also have a boyfriend or girlfriend on the list.

Retention Schedule: This explanation shall be utilized per the SOP until such time it is revised or becomes obsolete.