Definitions for "Common law marriage"
A legal marriage that occurs without a license or ceremony when a man and woman live together for a certain period of time and hold themselves out to be husband and wife.
a legal marriage recognized in some jurisdictions and brought about by the cohabitation of a man and a woman (without a civil or ecclesiastical ceremony), generally based upon a mutual agreement to consider themselves married followed by the couple's living together as husband and wife for a legally specified period of time and public recognition of the marriage. (Most jurisdictions no longer allow this type of marriage to be formed, although some may recognize such marriages formed prior to a certain date or formed in a jurisdiction that does permit common-law marria ges.) Those states where it is still recognized: Alabama, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire (posthumously), Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. In Scotland, common law marriage is called "marriage by habit and repute."
a marital union recognized in some jurisdictions as lawful, upon proof of cohabitation and the public "holding out" of the couple as being married
Keywords:  situation, man, property
a situation where a man and property
Keywords:  community, property
Community Property