Common law marriage in Wyoming cannot be created within the state. Every marriage formed in Wyoming requires a license from a county clerk and a ceremony performed by an authorized officiant in front of at least two adult witnesses.1Justia Law. Wyoming Code 20-1-101 – Marriage a Civil Contract Wyoming will, however, recognize a common law marriage that was validly formed in a state that allows one, and once recognized it carries the same legal weight as any ceremonial marriage.
What Wyoming Requires Instead
Wyoming treats marriage as a civil contract with specific steps. You need a license from a county clerk before any ceremony takes place. The ceremony has to be conducted by a district or circuit court judge, a supreme court justice, a magistrate, or a licensed or ordained clergy member, with at least two adult witnesses present.2Wyoming Legislature. Wyoming Code Title 20 – Domestic Relations Both partners must declare in front of the officiant and witnesses that they take each other as spouses. The signed license has to be returned to the county clerk within ten days.3Teton County, Wyoming. Marriage Licenses
Living together, sharing finances, raising children together, or introducing each other as spouses doesn’t substitute for any of this. Ten years of cohabitation in Wyoming creates no marriage at all. If you want the legal status, you go through the license and ceremony.
When Wyoming Recognizes a Common Law Marriage
Courts follow a long-standing principle: a marriage valid where it was created remains valid when the couple moves. If you and your partner met every requirement for a common law marriage in a state that permits one, then moved to Wyoming, Wyoming treats you as legally married.
Only a handful of states still permit new common law marriages to form:
- Colorado, where both partners must be at least 18 and mutually agree to be married
- Iowa, through statute and case law
- Kansas, where both partners must be 18 or older
- Montana, which does not explicitly prohibit it
- New Hampshire, but only for inheritance purposes after three years of cohabitation and one partner’s death
- South Carolina, through case law and a statute allowing marriages without a license
- Texas, which requires an agreement to be married, cohabitation, and public representation as spouses
- Utah, through a court or administrative order validating the relationship
The District of Columbia, Rhode Island, and Oklahoma also recognize common law marriages through case law.4National Conference of State Legislatures. Common Law Marriage by State Some states that once allowed common law marriage have abolished it going forward but still recognize unions formed before their cutoff.
Recognition in Wyoming is not symbolic. It means property division in a divorce, inheritance rights if your spouse dies, and standing to claim spousal benefits under federal programs. The burden sits with you, though: you have to prove the marriage was valid under the other state’s law.
Proving a Common Law Marriage
There is no certificate for a common law marriage. Courts look at a combination of evidence, usually built around three elements: you and your partner agreed to be married, you lived together, and you held yourselves out to the community as spouses. The exact test varies by state, but these three show up almost everywhere common law marriage exists.5Texas State Law Library. Common Law Marriage
“Holding out” is where most of the proof lives. You need signs that you consistently represented yourselves as spouses in public, not only between the two of you. The documents that tend to carry weight include:
- Joint federal or state tax returns filed as a married couple
- Insurance policies naming each other as spouse rather than domestic partner
- Joint bank accounts, mortgages, or loan applications
- Wills, powers of attorney, or beneficiary designations identifying the other person as your spouse
Testimony from family, friends, and community members who understood you to be married matters too. A couple with years of joint tax filings, a shared mortgage, and consistent introductions as spouses has a far stronger case than one whose only evidence is a shared lease.
What Recognition Gets You
Divorce
Once Wyoming recognizes a common law marriage, there is no informal way out. Ending it requires a divorce: a petition, property division, and, if there are children, custody and support orders. Wyoming uses equitable distribution, meaning a judge aims for a fair split rather than an automatic 50/50 division, and can award alimony based on one spouse’s ability to pay.6Justia Law. Wyoming Code Title 20 Chapter 2 – Divorce The notion that you can simply walk away because there was never a ceremony is one of the most expensive misunderstandings people carry into this situation.
Inheritance
If Wyoming recognizes the marriage, surviving spouse rights are identical to those of any ceremonially married person. When a married person dies without a will, the surviving spouse inherits the entire estate if there are no children, or half if there are.7Justia Law. Wyoming Code 2-4-101 – Rule of Descent Generally
When a will leaves the surviving spouse less than their fair share, Wyoming provides an elective share. The surviving spouse can claim one-half of the estate if there are no surviving children, or if the spouse is also a parent of the decedent’s children. If the surviving children are from a prior relationship, the elective share is one-quarter.8Justia Law. Wyoming Code 2-5-101 – Elective Share of Property The election has to be made within the probate court’s time limits, or the will controls.
A partner with no recognized marriage has no automatic inheritance rights at all. Decades together without a will or a valid common law marriage can leave someone with nothing.
Social Security
The Social Security Administration makes its own determination but relies on state law to do it. If your common law marriage was legal under the law of the state where it was formed, the SSA will recognize it for spousal, survivor, and dependent benefits, even after you move to Wyoming.9Social Security Administration. Development of Common-Law (Non-Ceremonial) Marriages The agency typically asks for signed statements from the partners and from blood relatives, along with documentation of shared finances or joint property.10Social Security Administration. POMS GN 00305.075 – State Laws on Validity of Common-Law Non-Ceremonial Marriages
If You Don’t Qualify: Protecting Yourself Without Marriage
If you live with a partner in Wyoming and your relationship doesn’t come from one of the states above, you have none of the default protections of marriage. You can still take some steps on your own.
A written cohabitation or property agreement can spell out ownership of shared assets, responsibility for joint debts, and financial arrangements if the relationship ends. Wyoming courts evaluate these as ordinary contracts, so the terms need to be clear and in writing. Wyoming will not award ongoing support to an unmarried partner unless a written contract specifically provides for it. Without an agreement, each person leaves with only what is titled in their name.
Unmarried parents also need to think about legal parentage. The marital presumption of fatherhood doesn’t apply, so without establishing paternity an unmarried father has no custody rights, no authority over medical decisions, and no child support obligation. The simplest route is a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity signed by both parents and filed with vital records, which carries the same legal weight as a court order and can only be challenged on limited grounds within two years.11Wyoming Judicial Branch. Paternity If parentage is disputed, either parent can request genetic testing and ask a court to adjudicate.