No, Maryland is not a common law marriage state. You cannot become legally married in Maryland by living together, sharing finances, or presenting yourselves as spouses, no matter how many years pass.1The Maryland People’s Law Library. Common Law Marriage Maryland will, however, recognize a common law marriage that was validly formed in one of the states that still allow them. And since October 2023, unmarried Maryland couples have had a new option: a registered domestic partnership that carries many of the inheritance protections a spouse would receive.
Why You Can’t Form a Common Law Marriage in Maryland
Maryland requires a license to marry. State law says you may not marry in Maryland without a license issued by the clerk of the circuit court for the county where the ceremony takes place.2Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 2-401 – License Required; Penalty That statutory requirement is what closes the door on informal marriage inside the state. Cohabitation alone, joint bank accounts, shared surnames, even joint tax returns filed as married: none of it creates a legal marriage in Maryland if the license and ceremony never happened here.
The practical effect is that an unmarried couple in Maryland stays unmarried in the eyes of the law until they marry formally. If that matters to you for inheritance, medical decisions, or taxes, you either need to marry, register a domestic partnership, or build the protections yourself through documents like wills and powers of attorney.
Common Law Marriages From Other States
Maryland does recognize a common law marriage that was validly established in a jurisdiction that permits it.1The Maryland People’s Law Library. Common Law Marriage If you and your partner met the requirements for common law marriage in Colorado and then moved to Baltimore, you’re still married in Maryland’s view. To end the marriage, you’d need a formal divorce like any other married couple.
Only a small number of U.S. jurisdictions still allow new common law marriages: Colorado, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Rhode Island, Texas, and Utah.1The Maryland People’s Law Library. Common Law Marriage The rules differ from state to state, but the core elements are consistent. Both partners must have the legal capacity to marry, both must presently intend to be married to each other (not intend to marry someday), and both must hold themselves out publicly as a married couple. Public presentation looks like using the same last name, introducing each other as spouses, and filing joint tax returns. No state sets a minimum number of years of cohabitation.
If you later need to assert the marriage in Maryland, the burden of proof is on you. Expect to produce joint leases or mortgages, joint bank and insurance accounts, joint tax returns, and statements from people who knew you as a married couple. Living together and splitting rent doesn’t get you there on its own.
How Federal Agencies Handle It
Federal agencies generally follow the same rule Maryland does: if the common law marriage was valid where it was formed, it stays valid for federal purposes after you move.
Federal Taxes
The IRS has held for more than 50 years that a couple who enters a valid common law marriage in a recognizing state remains married for federal income tax purposes wherever they later live.3IRS. Revenue Ruling 2013-17 Move from Texas to Maryland, and you keep filing federally as a married couple.
Social Security
The Social Security Administration also honors valid common law marriages when it evaluates spousal and survivor benefits, using the law of the state where the marriage was formed. When both spouses are alive, the SSA typically wants a signed statement of marital relationship from each spouse plus corroborating statements from blood relatives. If one spouse has died, the survivor provides a statement along with statements from relatives of the deceased.4Social Security Administration. Development of Common-Law (Non-Ceremonial) Marriages Mortgage records, insurance policies, medical records, and bank records help back up the claim.
Immigration
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recognizes a common law marriage for visa and residency purposes if it was valid under the laws of the place where it was created. The marriage must be bona fide, and both parties must have been legally free to marry at the time.5USCIS. Chapter 6 – Spouses USCIS also flags that the couple’s current state of residence may not recognize a common law marriage entered elsewhere, which can complicate certain petitions.
Maryland’s Registered Domestic Partnership
Since October 1, 2023, Maryland has offered a statewide registered domestic partnership. To register, you and your partner file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Register of Wills in the county where you live.6Maryland Registers of Wills. Registered Domestic Partnerships in Maryland The filing is short and inexpensive, and it delivers meaningful protection if one partner dies.
A registered domestic partnership gives the surviving partner:
- The same share of an intestate estate a surviving spouse would receive.
- The $10,000 spousal allowance.
- The same priority to serve as personal representative (executor) of the estate.
- Exemption from Maryland inheritance tax, whether or not there is a will.
One important limitation: registered domestic partners cannot claim an elective share of the augmented estate.6Maryland Registers of Wills. Registered Domestic Partnerships in Maryland The elective share is what lets a surviving spouse claim a minimum portion of the estate even if the will leaves them nothing. Without that right, a registered partner can still be disinherited by a will. Registration is still one of the highest-value steps an unmarried Maryland couple can take, but it does not fully replace marriage.
The Other Documents Unmarried Couples Need
Marriage creates a default legal framework covering property, inheritance, taxes, and decision-making. Without marriage, you assemble that framework yourself. The tools below are the ones most couples wish they’d handled sooner.
A Will
If you want your partner to inherit anything specific from you, a will is not optional. Registration covers what happens if you die without one, but a will lets you say exactly what your partner receives, name them as executor, and coordinate with assets that pass outside probate (like retirement accounts, which follow beneficiary designations). Without a will and without registration, an unmarried partner appears nowhere in Maryland’s order of intestate succession, which runs spouse, children, parents, siblings, and outward from there.7Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 3-101 – Order of Intestate Succession A partner of 30 years can inherit nothing if both pieces are missing.
A Durable Power of Attorney
A durable power of attorney for finances lets you name your partner as the person who handles your money, bills, and accounts if you become incapacitated.8Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 17-202 – Statutory Form Personal Financial Power of Attorney Without one, your partner has no legal authority over your accounts, even if you’ve shared finances for years.
An Advance Healthcare Directive
An advance directive lets you name a health care agent to make medical and mental health decisions for you if you can’t make them yourself, and it gives that person access to your medical records.9Maryland Courts. Personal and Life Planning Resources Maryland law requires the directive to be witnessed, your health care agent cannot serve as one of the witnesses, and at least one witness must be someone who won’t benefit financially from your death.10Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Health General 5-602 Without this document, hospitals turn to your closest blood relatives for treatment decisions, regardless of how long you and your partner have been together.
A Cohabitation Agreement
A cohabitation agreement is a contract that spells out how you and your partner handle property, income, debts, and shared expenses during the relationship, and how you’ll divide things if you separate.11The Maryland People’s Law Library. Unmarried Cohabitants Right to Support and Property It’s most useful when you own a home together, share substantial debts, or have significant income differences. There’s no standard template because there’s no standard couple.
Establishing Paternity if You Have Children
Unmarried parents in Maryland have to formally establish the father’s legal relationship to the child. Hospitals are required to offer both parents the chance to sign a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity at the time of birth.12eCFR. 45 CFR 303.5 – Establishment of Paternity Both parents sign, and the signatures must be notarized or witnessed. If you skip it at the hospital, either parent can pursue paternity later through the courts, but doing it at birth is far simpler. Without a legal paternity determination, the father has no automatic custody or visitation rights, and the child may lose access to benefits tied to the father’s employment, Social Security record, or estate.