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## Legal Consequences of Not Filing a Marriage License

Back in the late 70’s, my parents got married, but my mom just kept the license and never filed it or got it notarized in any way. They’ve lived their lives as a legally married couple. They’ve got each other on all important life paperwork, including military retirement and benefits. Is there any way that not filing the marriage license could come back to bite them in the behind?

It is important to understand the legal implications of not filing a marriage license. Failure to file a marriage license could potentially raise issues in the future, especially when it comes to certain legal matters or benefits that require proof of marriage. Without a properly filed marriage license, there may be challenges in proving the legal status of the marriage.

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15 Comments

  • NCC1701-Enterprise

    They are not legally married. Oregon doesn’t allow for common law marriage. They are going to want to talk to an accountant to determine if they have put themselves into any sort of tax situation and get legally married.

  • HaleyBlondee

    If one of them predeceases the other – the courts could question it

  • MotoFaleQueen

    NAL and this is specific to my understanding of NC, USA law.

    If they didn’t file the license, they are not legally married. They may have been able to get benefits (I was able to add my now-husband as a dependent on my benefits before we got married), but they’ve left themselves open to a world of legal hurt whenever one of them dies (maybe even before then too). The licenses generally expire after a set period of time (10 days after signing in NC), so even if they were to try to file it now, they wouldn’t be able to. They would need to get a new license and file that and hope the government doesn’t wise up to any benefits they’ve been reaping as a legally unmarried, married couple. Best to do that now, as unmarried spouses are not entitled to many rights at all if the other is hospitalized and not responsive (they’re not recognized as family). If the government finds out that they’ve been claiming married status and benefits without actually having been married, there may also be monetary repercussions there as well.

  • bonsaiaphrodite

    I feel like a similar question was asked a couple weeks ago, but I can’t remember the general consensus.

    NAL- Off the top of my head, if they’ve been filing taxes jointly for 50 years, that could cause the biggest issue.

  • cryssHappy

    NAL but I will tell you this (based on family experience) – SSA doesn’t track marriage licenses. If you ‘married’ and lived with someone as man and wife and filed tax returns, SSA will most likely consider you married. For the VA – you provide a marriage date not a certificate (VA is more concerned about previous marriages and divorces) UNLESS the veteran dies of service connected disease and then VA may want a copy of the certificate. Normally, when a spouse dies, SSA does not require a marriage certificate. Best thing, imo, would be to plead ignorance, check with the court for a ‘notarized’ copy and register shock that the courthouse misplaced it. Late ’70s was microfiche time, so it could have been lost, degraded, it imaged badly, etc, etc. Best of luck.

  • ruidh

    In my state and the state I got married in, the person who performs the marriage signs the license and returns it to the county clerk. How did that not happen? Are you certain it did not happen?

  • Acceptable-Ad8922

    They aren’t legally married then, and they should get legally married ASAP. It’s honestly hard to predict all the pitfalls that can come with their mistaken belief that they were legally married, but the answer is most definitely not to continue living without the protections afforded by a legal marriage. Dealing with the mess is that thing you’ll want if—god forbid—one of your parents pass without them being married.

  • TheeArchangelUriel

    Ask Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall.

    Mick proved their marriage, even after many years, was invalid for a similar reason.

  • panic_bread

    Hmmm, interesting question. What state are they in and what year were they married? On a practical level, it’s probably fine, but if someone wanted to contest (the miliary or an heir for example) they might be able to successfully do so.

  • flowercan126

    Did your mom somehow take your dad’s last name? If she did, things could just pass through, but if not, at least, Social Security will know.

  • EarlVanDorn

    In my state, failure to file the marriage license does not invalidate the marriage, and it is not considered a common law marriage. If the marriage license is still around, I would think it can be filed. If not, it might be necessary to go before a chancery or equity judge and get a judicial decree that the marriage did in fact take place, so that it can be filed. Please note that what I’ve just said is how I think it would have to be done. I haven’t researched the law other than the fact that failure to file doesn’t render the marriage void. And that only applies to my state.

  • apopka777

    Wow ! This is going to take a lot of fixing quickly. There are VA benefits for certain categories of spouses and you would have had to have been married for a specific time period to receive the benefits after death of veteran. Hopefully there is a way to keep what your parents have coming to them.

  • Deathbyhours

    If they are/were Catholic (and maybe this is true for Episcopalians and Lutherans) the priest will have filed something with the Diocese that could prove that it happened. The Catholic Church is into records —- 2,000 years of paperwork and all.

    I know this because when I got married we had a priest who was my wife’s friend as the officiant, but he was from another parish. He called us up afterwards to come by his church. He has discovered that he wasn’t authorized to do Marriage Masses in the town where we had had the ceremony, because he hadn’t realized that he was in a different Archdiocese, I think, so he had us come by his office and do it again. It was “Do you…? Do you…? In the Name of… That’s it. Mazel Tov!” Much easier than the first time.

    IIRC, the State wouldn’t have cared, but the Church would have. There are boxes to be ticked.

  • Hippy_Lynne

    I’m pretty sure they are actually married. Your mom and dad are not the ones who would have filed the marriage certificate. The officiant would have. Whatever they get at the ceremony is usually just a commemorative certificate since the actual legal one isn’t as pretty. Your mom just probably never bothered to get a certified copy from the state. I’m assuming she never changed her name legally or was on your dad’s health insurance? Because a certified copy would be required for both of those.

  • FaustinoAugusto234

    They are at a minimum common law married. No legal distinction at this point.