Also known as: cohabit · cohabits · cohabited · cohabiting · cohabitations
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Living together as partners in life. This living arrangement constitutes one required element for a common law marriage when paired with mutual consent and public holding out as spouses.
Caleb Chang and Camila Cervantes exchanged promises to be permanent spouses and began living together in a shared home. They opened a joint bank account and introduced themselves to neighbors as husband and wife. Their cohabitation satisfied the second element needed to form a valid common law marriage under the applicable requirements.
Charlotte Chung cohabited with Christian Coleman for three years while believing in good faith that their informal ceremony had created a legal marriage. When the relationship ended, Charlotte sought maintenance as a putative spouse. Her cohabitation in that belief entitled her to spousal rights until she learned the marriage was invalid.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Cecilia Cabrera and Claire Campbell shared an apartment and divided household expenses for two years. They had no agreement that their arrangement would be permanent or exclusive. Their cohabitation alone failed to establish the consent required for a common law marriage.
Alice Adams and Bob Brown returned to Virginia after marrying elsewhere and resumed living together as spouses. Their cohabitation triggered prosecution under the state's miscegenation statute. The arrangement exposed the couple to felony penalties tied directly to their shared residence.
Diana Delgado gave birth to a child after assisted reproduction while cohabiting with her spouse Edward Evans. The couple later separated and no longer lived together. The absence of continued cohabitation after the probable time of conception affected the spouse's parentage presumption under the governing statute.
Grandmother Gloria Garcia lived with her grandson Henry Hernandez and another relative in a single-family zoned home. The city's ordinance excluded this arrangement from its definition of family because it exceeded the permitted cohabitation limits. The restriction prevented the household from occupying the residence under the zoning rules.
Cohabitation must be joined by an exchange of consents between the parties and a public holding out that they are living together as spouses. Using a common last name, maintaining a joint bank account, and telling community members they consider themselves married all demonstrate the required holding out. No minimum duration is needed if the three elements exist simultaneously.
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No. Consent requires an intent to enter a permanent, exclusive relationship from which children are generally expected. An agreement limited to cohabitation falls short of that standard and cannot support a common law marriage.
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A person acquires putative spouse status by cohabiting with another in the good faith belief that a legal marriage exists. The status continues until the person learns the marriage is invalid. Rights acquired as a putative spouse, including maintenance, are protected even if the marriage is later declared invalid.
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Some ordinances limit the term family to certain blood or marital relationships and exclude other relatives from permitted cohabitation in single-family zones. A household arrangement that exceeds those limits can be barred even when the residents are related by blood.
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…relatives, principally the spouse and unmarried and dependent children. Excluded from the definition of "family," and hence from cohabitation, are various persons related by blood or adoption to the head of the household. The obvious purpose of the city is the traditional one of preserving certain areas as family residential…