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Bill proposes end to common law marriage
S.C. may no longer recognize relationships
By Jim Davenport
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA - South Carolina would do away with recognizing common law marriages under legislation that received approval in a Senate subcommittee Wednesday.
Bill supporters say the law needs to be changed because of the difficulty in distributing assets when a common law spouse dies.
The Senate panel approved changes to House and Senate versions that would set Jan. 1, 2008 as the date to no longer recognize common law marriages. The bills also would waive marriage license fees for those that can't afford them, but are in common law relationships.
The change won't move people to get marriage licenses, said Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach.
People who don't follow the news "are never going to get it," Rankin said. "They're never going to come in."
Fewer than a dozen states recognize common law marriages and some, including Oklahoma and Utah, also have been trying to end the practice.
South Carolina has been trying to drop the recognition for years, said Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg.
"Hopefully this year will be the year that we resolve it," Ritchie said.
Marriage has been on the minds of legislators during the past year, and they've made it an issue for voters, too. In November, voters will decide whether to change the state's constitution to make it clear that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
Sen. Bill Mescher, R-Pinopolis, said the law was "very confusing."
He said he heard of an instance where a man who rented a room from a woman refused to leave, declaring that he was her common law husband.
But the only time a common law marriage exists is when a judge says so, Mescher said.
Probate Judge Amy McCulloch, legislative coordinator for the S.C. Probate Judges Association, said the state only has a couple of ways of officially recognizing a common law marriage - by divorce or death.
"After death is where we're seeing the most problems," she said.
Specifically, confusion arises when a common law spouse dies, and the couple had a child who is a minor. The child receives legal representation that argues against the surviving spouse for the estate.
In order for the surviving spouse to get money from the estate, they have to document the common law marriage.
Columbia lawyer Kermit King also said common law marriages are a problem when a worker dies on the job and the surviving partner tries to collect workers' compensation benefits. It's up to the survivor to prove they lived together and had the intention of marrying, King said.
It is "difficult sometimes to tell when it has happened and when it hasn't," he said.
The bills now head to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
