A and B entered into a relationship in Colorado, in which they agreed they would live together as husband and wife. They planned to go through a marriage ceremony at some indefinite point in the future. They both believed that they had a common law marriage that could be terminated only by divorce or the death of one of them.

After A reaches retirement age and began drawing social security retirement benefits, they applied for wife’s benefits for B

Social Security follows the law of the state in which the claimant’s are domiciled at the time of the application for benefits to determine the validity of a marriage.

Colorado follows the majority rule recognizing a common law marriage if the parties had a present intent to marry.

It was held that A and B had a valid common law marriage which the state of Colorado would recognize, even though they planned at some future date to solemnize their marriage but had not yet done so.

B was entitled to wife’s social security benefits.

See Social Security Ruling (SSR) 61-9.

This material should not be construed as legal advice for any particular fact situation, but is intended for general informational purposes only. For advice specific to any individual situation, an experienced attorney should be contacted.