Common Law Marriage in Pennsylvania: Is It Recognized? (2026)

Pennsylvania abolished the formation of new common law marriages effective January 1, 2005, under 23 Pa.C.S. section 1103. Common law marriages that were otherwise lawful and validly formed in Pennsylvania on or before that date remain legally recognized and enforceable. Pennsylvania also recognizes valid common law marriages formed in other states.

Information last verified on June 2, 2026.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses Pennsylvania state law on common law marriage under 23 Pa.C.S. section 1103 and Pennsylvania case law. It does not constitute legal advice. For a state-by-state comparison, see Common Law Marriage by State.

Does Pennsylvania Recognize Common Law Marriage?

Pennsylvania no longer allows couples to form a common law marriage within the state. The Pennsylvania General Assembly amended 23 Pa.C.S. section 1103 through Act 144 of 2004, which provides that no common law marriage contracted after January 1, 2005, is valid, and that nothing in that part of the Marriage Law renders invalid any common law marriage that was otherwise lawful and contracted on or before that date. For marriages formed after the cutoff, a valid license and a solemnization ceremony are required under 23 Pa.C.S. section 1301.

Before the 2005 cutoff, Pennsylvania was one of the states that recognized common law marriage under longstanding common law doctrine. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court confirmed this tradition in Staudenmayer v. Staudenmayer, 714 A.2d 1016 (Pa. 1998), where the court emphasized that a valid common law marriage required proof of an exchange of words of present intent, spoken in the present tense, by which each party agreed at that moment to be married to the other. This requirement of verba de praesenti set Pennsylvania apart from some other states that allowed conduct alone to prove the agreement.

Because the 2005 statute is prospective only, it did not invalidate any marriage that had already been formed. A couple that exchanged verba de praesenti on or before January 1, 2005, and satisfied the other requirements has a fully recognized marriage with the same legal status as a ceremonially solemnized union.

The Stamos Decision and the 2003 to 2005 Window

One episode matters for anyone researching a marriage formed in the final months before the statutory cutoff. In PNC Bank Corp. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Stamos), 831 A.2d 1269 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2003), an en banc panel of the Commonwealth Court held on September 17, 2003, that the time had come to abolish the doctrine of common law marriage, and gave that ruling purely prospective effect from the date of the decision. For a period afterward, common law marriages entered into after September 17, 2003, were treated as invalid in cases before that court.

That decision did not bind the Superior Court, which hears divorce and family appeals. In Stackhouse v. Stackhouse, 862 A.2d 102 (Pa. Super. 2004), the Superior Court agreed that Commonwealth Court decisions are not controlling in matters before it, while noting that they remain precedential in Pennsylvania trial courts. Stackhouse reversed a trial court that had relied on Stamos to dismiss a divorce and support claim without reckoning with the purely prospective limits the decision imposed.

The legislature then settled the question. In Costello v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Kinsley Construction, Inc.), 916 A.2d 1242 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2007), the Commonwealth Court held that in enacting Act 144 the General Assembly intended to and did render valid all otherwise lawful common law marriages entered into before January 1, 2005, thereby superseding the decision in PNC Bank Corp. The Commonwealth Court applied that same reading in Serrano v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, 94 A.3d 425 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014). January 1, 2005, and not September 17, 2003, is therefore the operative date today.

The statutory phrase "otherwise lawful" still does real work. As the court explained in Costello, it refers to the various reasons that might independently have made a marriage unlawful, such as a party's lack of a divorce from an earlier marriage. A claimed marriage that fails for one of those reasons is not rescued by the fact that it predates 2005.

Requirements for Pre-2005 Pennsylvania Common Law Marriages

For a common law marriage formed in Pennsylvania on or before January 1, 2005, to be recognized today, a party must establish all three elements by clear and convincing evidence.

Words of Present Intent (Verba de Praesenti)

The cornerstone of the Pennsylvania common law marriage doctrine was the exchange of words in the present tense by which each party agreed that they were, at that moment, entering a marriage. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Staudenmayer v. Staudenmayer, 714 A.2d 1016 (Pa. 1998), drew a clear distinction between an exchange such as "I take you as my wife" (present tense, sufficient) and an agreement to marry in the future (insufficient). The words did not have to be a formal recitation; informal language expressing present marital intent could suffice if the intent was unambiguous.

Courts applying this standard after Staudenmayer applied it strictly. In Estate of Stauffer, 504 Pa. 626 (1984), the court had previously noted that cohabitation and reputation for being married could raise a presumption of a valid marriage in appropriate circumstances, but Staudenmayer clarified that this presumption required proof of the underlying agreement, not a substitute for it.

Capacity to Marry

Both parties must have had legal capacity. Under Pennsylvania law, this required that each party be of legal age, not currently in a valid marriage with someone else, and not related to the other party within a prohibited degree. A party already married to a third person lacked capacity, so any purported common law marriage during an existing marriage would have been void.

Cohabitation

The parties must have lived together as husband and wife following the exchange of present intent. Pennsylvania did not specify a required duration of cohabitation. Even a brief period of cohabitation following the verba de praesenti could satisfy this element if the other requirements were fully met. Duration of cohabitation could, however, serve as circumstantial evidence of when and whether the exchange of words actually occurred.

Does Pennsylvania Recognize a Common Law Marriage From Another State?

Yes. Pennsylvania gives full legal effect to a common law marriage that was validly formed in another state, provided the marriage met that other state's requirements at the time it was created. This recognition rests on Pennsylvania's conflicts-of-law principles, which generally treat a marriage that was valid where it was contracted as valid in Pennsylvania. It does not rest on the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution, which by its terms applies to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of other states rather than to marital status.

For example, a couple who formed a valid informal marriage in Texas under Tex. Fam. Code section 2.401, or a valid common law marriage in Colorado under C.R.S. section 14-2-109.5, and who then moved to Pennsylvania would have their marriage recognized by Pennsylvania courts and agencies. This is true regardless of the January 1, 2005, cutoff, which applies only to marriages formed within Pennsylvania.

Recognition depends on the marriage actually being valid where it was formed. In Serrano v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, 94 A.3d 425 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014), a claimant sought workers' compensation death benefits as a widow based on a common law marriage she said the couple had formed in Wyoming in 2003. Because Wyoming does not recognize common law marriage, and because the couple had not lived as spouses in any state that did, the Commonwealth Court held there was no valid marriage for Pennsylvania to recognize.

Out-of-state recognition has practical importance for property division, spousal support, inheritance rights, and spousal privilege in court proceedings. A party asserting an out-of-state common law marriage in a Pennsylvania proceeding must establish that the marriage was validly formed under the law of the originating state.

How to Prove a Pre-2005 Pennsylvania Common Law Marriage

Because a common law marriage leaves no license or certificate, the party asserting the marriage carries a heavy evidentiary burden. Pennsylvania courts apply a clear-and-convincing evidence standard, which is more demanding than the preponderance standard used in most civil matters.

Evidence courts have considered in Pennsylvania common law marriage cases includes:

• Testimony from the parties themselves or surviving party about the words exchanged and the circumstances
• Statements made to family members, friends, clergy, coworkers, or neighbors identifying each other as husband or wife
• Joint federal and state income tax returns filed as married or as husband and wife
• Joint bank accounts or other financial accounts listing both parties
• Deeds, lease agreements, or mortgage documents identifying the parties as spouses
• Insurance policies naming the other party as a spouse or dependent
• Correspondence, social media posts, or other written materials in which the parties referred to each other as husband or wife
• Shared last name or use of the other party's last name
• Affidavits of marriage signed by both parties

No single document is conclusive. Courts evaluate the totality of the evidence to determine whether a present mutual agreement to be married was exchanged on or before January 1, 2005.

The 7-Year Myth

A persistent misconception holds that living together for 7 years automatically creates a common law marriage. This has never been true under Pennsylvania law, either before or after the 2005 abolition. Pennsylvania's common law marriage doctrine, as confirmed in Staudenmayer v. Staudenmayer, 714 A.2d 1016 (Pa. 1998), required an exchange of words of present intent to be married. No number of years of cohabitation could substitute for that requirement.

In states that still allow common law marriage formation, the same principle applies: no state sets a minimum duration of cohabitation as a requirement or automatic trigger for common law marriage. Duration of cohabitation may be relevant as circumstantial evidence of whether an agreement was made, but there is no 7-year rule anywhere in the United States.

In Pennsylvania today, the 7-year question is moot for new relationships because the state no longer permits common law marriage formation at all. For a couple living together in Pennsylvania now, no amount of cohabitation creates a marriage without a license and ceremony.

How a Common Law Marriage Ends

A valid Pennsylvania common law marriage, whether formed in Pennsylvania before 2005 or formed in another state and recognized in Pennsylvania, ends only through formal divorce or the death of a spouse. There is no such thing as a "common law divorce" in Pennsylvania or in any other state.

Separating households, ceasing to cohabit, or announcing that the relationship is over does not legally dissolve a marriage. A person who entered a valid common law marriage and later entered a new relationship without first obtaining a divorce remains legally married. A second ceremonial marriage while the first marriage subsists would be void or voidable under Pennsylvania law.

Divorce proceedings to dissolve a pre-2005 Pennsylvania common law marriage are conducted in the same manner as any other Pennsylvania divorce under the Divorce Code, 23 Pa.C.S. sections 3301 et seq. The court applies equitable distribution rules, the spousal support framework, and the same procedures that govern all Pennsylvania divorce actions.

For an overview of what spousal support involves financially in Pennsylvania, see Pennsylvania alimony laws. For child-related financial obligations, see Pennsylvania child support laws.

For a state-by-state comparison of which states recognize common law marriage today, see Common Law Marriage by State.

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Disclaimer: This page provides general legal information about common law marriage in Pennsylvania and is not legal advice. Marriage law determinations are fact-specific and depend on individual circumstances, including when and where any claimed marriage was formed. This information was verified as of June 2, 2026. Consult a licensed Pennsylvania family law attorney for advice about your specific situation.

Last updated: June 2, 2026.

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