Wyoming does not create common-law marriages. It does recognize them.
Two sentences cover the law and both matter. No number of years living together in Wyoming makes you married; the Supreme Court said so in 1943 and the licensing statutes have said it since. But a couple who were validly married under the common law of another state, and then moved to Jackson, are married here, with everything a divorce court can do about it. Which sentence applies to you is a question of dates and geography.
Call or text me. Clients get my cell number from day one, and I answer. Just been served? Here's what happens next.
Three things the law settles.
Marriage is a civil contract that requires consent (W.S. § 20-1-101). Before it is solemnized here, "a marriage license shall be obtained from a Wyoming county clerk" (W.S. § 20-1-103(a)), and the parties must declare before an officiant and two witnesses that they take each other as spouses (W.S. § 20-1-106(b)). Nothing less makes a Wyoming marriage.
The Wyoming Supreme Court held that year that common-law marriages entered into in this state are not valid, and no legislature since has changed that. The Wyoming Judicial Branch tells self-represented litigants the same thing: considering yourselves married, or living together for years, does not make you married under Wyoming law.
Wyoming honors marriages that were valid under the law of the place where they were contracted (W.S. § 20-1-111), and the Judicial Branch's guidance confirms that a common-law marriage that qualified in the state you came from is recognized here. The couple arrives married; Wyoming does not undo it.
The Jackson couple who came from somewhere else.
Where the other state's law follows you
Most of my common-law questions come from people who moved here from Colorado, Texas or Montana, three of the handful of states that still create these marriages, and who lived together in that state for years before the move. The question is not what they did in Jackson. It is whether, under the law of the state they left, a marriage was formed while they lived there. Colorado asks whether the couple mutually agreed to be married and then held themselves out as spouses; Texas asks for an agreement to be married, living together in Texas as spouses, and representing to others that they were married; Montana looks for capacity, mutual consent, and cohabitation with public repute. Each is a fact question, decided on evidence from those years.
If the answer is yes, the couple is married in Wyoming and a divorce follows the ordinary path: the sixty-day residency rule, a complaint on irreconcilable differences, disclosures, a just-and-equitable property division, alimony if the facts support it. The marriage date is the date the other state's test was met, which may be a year neither of them can name, and the district judge decides it as a preliminary issue. The divorce page covers what follows from there.
In Teton County a disputed common-law marriage is heard by Judge Owens as part of the divorce case, as a preliminary question, because nothing about property or alimony can be decided until the court knows whether there is a marriage. The party asserting the marriage carries the burden. A case with joint returns, a deed naming spouses, and two credible friends is short. A case with a shared apartment and one person's memory is not.
- 01The timeline: which state you lived in, from when to when, and whether that state creates common-law marriages during those years
- 02Tax returns: filed as married filing jointly, or as single and head of household, for every year in the other state
- 03Titles and leases: a deed, a lease or a mortgage application naming you as husband and wife, or as two unmarried individuals
- 04Insurance and benefits: a spouse enrolled on a health plan, a beneficiary designation, a pension form with a marital status box
- 05Names and introductions: a shared surname, wedding rings, how you introduced each other, social media, the obituary of a parent
- 06Witnesses: people who knew you in that state and can say whether you were understood to be married, and whether both of you said so
- 07What happened after the move: not decisive, since Wyoming creates nothing, but a record of calling yourselves single here undercuts a claim about there
The elements are the other state's, applied by a Wyoming court. The list above is what those tests tend to turn on; the exact test depends on the state and the years in question, and some states have abolished the doctrine prospectively while honoring marriages formed before a cutoff date.
Four situations that walk through my door.
- The Colorado move. Twelve years in Denver, joint returns, her name on his insurance, a wedding that was always going to happen next summer. They bought in Jackson and split three years later. If Colorado's test was met before the move, this is a divorce, and the Jackson house is before the court under just and equitable division. If not, it is a title dispute between two single people.
- The long Jackson cohabitation. Twenty years in the same house, one name on the deed, no other state in the story. No marriage, whatever the neighbors assumed. The partner without title has a contract or contribution claim and nothing else; the partner with title has the house. This is the case a cohabitation agreement was written for, and the case where its absence costs the most.
- The inheritance. One partner dies without a will, and the survivor says they were common-law married in Texas before moving here. Whether the survivor inherits as a spouse turns on the same proof as a divorce would, in a probate case instead, against the children or the siblings who take if there was no marriage.
- The second marriage. A person who was validly common-law married in another state and never divorced, then had a licensed Wyoming wedding to someone else. The second marriage is void, because the first was never ended, and the first spouse's claims survive. This is why the question is worth answering before the wedding, not after.
Unmarried couples, children, and the agreement that replaces a marriage.
What unmarried partners can and cannot claim, children of unmarried parents, cohabitation agreements, and the case for simply getting married
What an unmarried partner can claim
Without a marriage there is no divorce court, no just-and-equitable division, and no alimony. What remains is ordinary civil law. A partner who put money into a house titled in the other's name can sue on an express or implied contract, or for unjust enrichment, and can ask a court to impose a trust on the property to the extent of the contribution. The Wyoming Supreme Court has enforced agreements between cohabitants where the bargain was about property and support rather than the relationship itself. These claims are harder than a divorce claim in every way: the burden is higher, the remedy is narrower, and a judge is not told to be fair, only to apply the contract or the equities as proved.
Children of unmarried parents
Here the law draws no distinction. Once paternity is established, by acknowledgment or by court order, custody and visitation are decided under the best-interests factors of W.S. § 20-2-201, in well defined terms, and child support follows the presumptive guideline after both parents file financial affidavits. The statute names a paternity proceeding alongside divorce as a case in which the court makes those orders. A father who has never been married to the mother has the same standing to ask for custody, and the same obligation to support, as one who was. The custody page, the child support page and the calculator apply without adjustment. What unmarried parents lack is the presumption of paternity a marriage supplies, so the acknowledgment should be signed early.
Cohabitation agreements
A cohabitation agreement is the contract that gives an unmarried couple what married couples get from the divorce statutes: a set of rules for the money. It says who owns the house and in what shares, how the down payment and the mortgage are credited if you separate, whether either partner will support the other and for how long, who keeps which accounts, and what happens to property one of you brought in or inherits. Wyoming enforces it as a contract, which means it needs what any contract needs: a real exchange, full disclosure, a signature from each of you, and terms a court can apply as written. It should also say, in a sentence, that neither of you claims to be married to the other and that neither intends a common-law marriage in any state you later move to. For a couple who have pooled money toward a Jackson house without a wedding in the plan, this document is the difference between a clean separation and a lawsuit over title.
Or get married
Some couples who ask about common-law marriage are hoping to be married without the paperwork, and the paperwork is the easy part. A Wyoming license takes a visit to the county clerk and expires after a year if unused (W.S. § 20-1-103(d)); the ceremony requires an officiant, two witnesses and no particular form (W.S. § 20-1-106). A marriage made that way is a marriage everywhere, with no fact hearing. What it does not do is settle the money; that is what a prenup is for, and the separate property page explains why Wyoming couples with land or family money want one.
Asked about common-law marriage in Wyoming.
Does Wyoming have common-law marriage?
We lived in Colorado as a married couple and moved to Jackson. Are we married here?
How do I prove a common-law marriage in a Wyoming court?
My partner says we were common-law married so he can claim half the house. Can he?
What happens to unmarried couples who split up in Wyoming?
What is a cohabitation agreement, and will Wyoming enforce it?
Start with a confidential conversation with Aaron Herzberg.
A consultation is a scheduled working session, in person in Jackson or by video, in which we go through your situation and I tell you what I would do. It is a paid working session, not a sales pitch. The fee is quoted when we schedule. Your note reaches me directly, my office runs the conflicts check and puts the meeting on my calendar, and you can call or text any time.
40 E Simpson Ave, Jackson, WY 83001 · by appointment · video consultations for out-of-state clients · info@puzzlegroup.com