To file a Declaration of Informal Marriage in Texas, both partners go together to any county clerk’s office in the state, present acceptable identification, complete the state-prescribed declaration form, sign it under oath before the clerk, and pay the recording fee (commonly around $47 to $49). Once recorded, the declaration gives your common law marriage the same legal standing as a ceremonial marriage and fixes an official start date on the public record.
Who Can File
Texas recognizes an informal marriage when three things are true at the same time: both people presently agree they are married, they live together in Texas as a married couple after making that agreement, and they hold themselves out to others as married. A plan to marry later does not count, and there is no minimum period of cohabitation; what matters is that the living arrangement and public conduct look like a marriage.1State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code 2.401 – Proof of Informal Marriage
Both people must be at least 18. No one under 18 can be a party to an informal marriage or sign a declaration, and there is no exception.1State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code 2.401 – Proof of Informal Marriage Neither of you can currently be married to anyone else. If either of you is recently divorced, Texas prohibits remarriage until the 31st day after the decree, though a judge can waive that waiting period.2State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 6.801
You also cannot be closely related. Prohibited relationships include parent and child, siblings (including half-siblings and adoptive siblings), aunts or uncles and nieces or nephews, first cousins, and current or former stepparents and stepchildren.3State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code 2.402 – Declaration and Registration of Informal Marriage
Same-sex couples may file on the same terms. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed that couples of any gender can apply using any date applicable to their relationship, including a date before 2015.
What to Bring to the Clerk’s Office
The document is called the Declaration and Registration of Informal Marriage. It is prescribed by the state’s bureau of vital statistics, available at every county clerk’s office, and downloadable from many county websites. The Texas Department of State Health Services also publishes the official blank form.4Texas Department of State Health Services. Declaration and Registration of Informal Marriage
Personal Information
Each person provides full legal name, current mailing address, date of birth, place of birth (city, county, and state), and Social Security number. The statute phrases the SSN field as “social security number, if any,” so providing one is expected but not an absolute bar if you don’t have one.3State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code 2.402 – Declaration and Registration of Informal Marriage The form asks for each person’s maiden name if applicable, and for the approximate date you both agreed the marriage began. That date becomes the official start of your marriage on the public record, so settle on it before you walk in.
Identification
Both people must prove identity and age. The common options are a Texas driver’s license or state ID (current or expired no more than two years), a U.S. passport, a military ID with a photo, or an original or certified birth certificate. Texas law also accepts a current foreign passport, immigration documents issued by the Department of Homeland Security, a voter registration certificate, a motor vehicle title, and certain school records, among others.5State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 2.005 If you lack a standard photo ID, check the full list in Section 2.005 before assuming you can’t file.
The Filing Visit
Both people must appear together, in person, at a Texas county clerk’s office. There is no mail, online, or representative option. You can use any county in the state; it does not have to be where you live.3State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code 2.402 – Declaration and Registration of Informal Marriage
At the counter you present the completed form and your IDs. The clerk witnesses both of you sign and take an oath that the information is true, that you agreed to be married on or about the stated date, that you lived together in Texas as a married couple and represented yourselves as married, and that neither of you has been married to anyone else since that date.6Travis County Clerk. Marriage License – Section: Informal Marriage License The clerk then signs a certificate showing where and when you made the declaration and records the document as a public record. You leave with a certified copy, which is your primary proof of marriage going forward.
What It Costs
The state-mandated fee for recording a declaration of informal marriage is $25, split between the county and the state.7Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Fiscal 2026 Revenue Object 3707 – Marriage License Fees Counties add their own recording surcharges, which commonly bring the total to around $47 to $49. Call ahead to confirm the exact amount and whether the clerk takes cash, card, or both.
Why File at All
You don’t have to file a declaration for an informal marriage to exist. The marriage is legally real the moment all three elements are in place. Filing matters because of what happens if you don’t.
Under the Texas Family Code, when no declaration has been filed and no court action to prove the marriage is started within two years after the couple separates, the law applies a rebuttable presumption that no agreement to marry ever existed.1State of Texas. Texas Code Family Code 2.401 – Proof of Informal Marriage You can overcome that presumption with evidence, but doing so means litigation, witness testimony, and expense. A recorded declaration eliminates the fight by fixing a start date that doesn’t depend on anyone’s memory.
It also simplifies daily life. Insurers, employers, hospitals, and government agencies routinely ask for proof of marriage, and a certified copy of the declaration works the same way a ceremonial marriage certificate does.
What You’re Legally Committing To
Once recorded, the declaration gives your marriage the same legal standing as any ceremonial marriage. Informal and formal marriages carry identical rights and identical obligations.
Community Property Starts on the Date You Pick
Texas is a community property state. Most assets and debts acquired during the marriage belong to both spouses equally, regardless of whose name is on the account or title. The start date on your declaration is the line separating separate property (what you owned before) from community property. If the marriage ever ends through divorce or death, that date is the hinge on which property division turns.
Inheritance
A recorded declaration also protects inheritance rights. If one spouse dies without a will, the surviving informal spouse has the same claim to the estate as any other surviving spouse under Texas intestacy law. Without the declaration, the surviving partner may have to prove the marriage in probate court before receiving anything, a process competing heirs can draw out.
Only Divorce Ends It
An informal marriage does not end because you stop living together or stop calling each other spouses. The only ways to dissolve it are a formal divorce or the death of one spouse. All the usual divorce rules apply: property division, spousal support, and child custody and support if children are involved. Walking away without filing for divorce can leave both people exposed to community debt and unable to legally remarry.
Taxes and Benefits
Federal Income Tax
The IRS recognizes a common law marriage established under state law as a valid marriage for all federal tax purposes.8Internal Revenue Service. IRM 25.18.1 Basic Principles of Community Property Law Once your informal marriage is established, you can no longer file as single. Your filing status for a given tax year depends on whether you’re married on December 31 of that year, and your choice is between married filing jointly and married filing separately.9Internal Revenue Service. Filing Status Joint filing is usually cheaper, but run the numbers both ways.
Social Security
Informal spouses qualify for Social Security spousal and survivor benefits on the same basis as any other married person. The Social Security Administration runs its own verification, which requires signed statements from each living spouse and from blood relatives, along with supporting documents such as mortgage receipts, bank records, and insurance policies listing both spouses.10Social Security Administration. SSA Handbook 1717 – Evidence of Common-Law Marriage A recorded declaration shortens that process considerably.
Employer Benefits
Whether your spouse can enroll in your employer’s health plan depends on the plan type. State-regulated insured plans generally must recognize a valid informal marriage. Self-insured plans governed by ERISA have more flexibility and can define “spouse” to exclude common law marriages, as long as the plan documents say so. Ask HR for the Summary Plan Description. The declaration is usually what they’ll want to see as proof.
If You Move Out of State
A Texas informal marriage remains valid if you move to a state that does not permit new common law marriages. The longstanding principle is that a marriage valid where it was established is recognized elsewhere, and courts apply that rule even in states with no common law marriage provisions of their own.
The practical value of the declaration shows up here. A certified copy functions like any marriage certificate when you’re dealing with agencies in a state unfamiliar with informal marriage. Without it, you may need to gather witness statements and joint financial records to prove the marriage under Texas law, which is much harder once you’ve left the state.
After You File
Update your records promptly. Notify your employer’s benefits department so your spouse can be added to health insurance and retirement beneficiary designations. Adjust your tax withholding if your filing status is changing. The declaration itself does not change anyone’s last name; if either spouse wants a name change, contact the Social Security Administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety for a new driver’s license, and any other agencies separately.
Keep at least one certified copy somewhere secure, and consider asking the clerk for an extra. The declaration is a public record and additional certified copies can be obtained later, but having one on hand saves time the next time an insurer or agency asks for proof of marriage.