Senate Votes To Stop Recognizing Common-Law Marriages In Idaho

The state Senate voted Tuesday to end more than a century of legal recognition for common-law marriages in Idaho.

Adopted to solve the problem of isolation in the 1800s, the concept today is creating many more problems than it solves, Sen. David Kerrick, R-Caldwell, said.

He also said repealing the concept should have little impact on the legal relationships of couples.

“A hundred years ago, we didn’t require licenses for a lot of things,” Kerrick said. “Today, you need a license to hunt or fish. You have to have a license to drive a car. So it’s not out of the question to require a license for marriage.”

And, he said, “It’s quite easy to get married. You can be married quicker than it takes for the champagne to chill.”

Gov. Phil Batt need only sign his name to remove Idaho as one of just 13 states still recognizing commonlaw marriages. The Senate approved the measure, 20-14; the House voted for it three weeks ago, 48-22.

Existing common-law marriages will remain legally recognized. But beginning next year, only marriages sanctioned by a formal license will have that status.

Opposition centered on the impact that refusing to legally recognize common-law marriages in the future would have on spouses and children, particularly in regard to spousal abuse, children’s rights and property dispersal in divorces or probate.

“I think that as a deliberative body, we should be reluctant to change something that is over 100 years old and about which a body of case law has been developed,” Sen. Sue Reents, D-Boise, said. “I’m concerned about the common-law spouse whose husband may die in an automobile accident. She has a right to insurance benefits, to Social Security.”

But Kerrick cited the fact that in the other dozen states, some kind of written contract or registration is required for legally recognized common-law marriages. And he maintained children’s rights are tied to paternity, not the marital status of their parents. He also said abusing partners can be charged with assault whether their victims are spouses or not.

Sen. Laird Noh, R-Kimberly, said a couple from that area had brought the issue to his attention several years ago after their 40-year-old son had slipped into a coma following an automobile accident and they had begun arranging for his care, only to have a woman appear at the hospital declaring herself their son’s common-law wife. Their son could not dispute the claim.