Indiana does not recognize common law marriage formed inside the state. Under a 1958 statute, any informal marriage entered into in Indiana after January 1 of that year is void, meaning it has no legal effect no matter how long a couple has lived together or presented themselves as married.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-11-8-5 – Common Law Marriages Entered Into After January 1, 1958 The state will, however, honor a common law marriage that was validly created in another state that still allows them. That single distinction drives almost every question that follows.
The 1958 Cutoff
Indiana Code 31-11-8-5 doesn’t merely disfavor common law marriage. It voids it. Living together for decades, sharing bank accounts, filing joint tax returns, raising children, using the same last name: none of it creates a marriage under Indiana law without a license.
To be legally married in Indiana today, you need a marriage license and a solemnization ceremony performed by an authorized officiant.2Indiana Judicial Branch. Apply for a Marriage License Authorized officiants include clergy, judges, mayors within their county, city or town clerks, the governor, members of the general assembly, and certain religious organizations.3indy.gov. Marriage Licenses The officiant signs and records the physical license with the clerk’s office. Until that recording happens, you are not married.
One narrow exception exists: a common law marriage formed within Indiana before January 1, 1958, remains valid if the couple can prove it existed before the cutoff. In practical terms, very few people alive today fall into that category.
Marriages Formed in Other States
Indiana won’t let you create a common law marriage inside its borders, but it will generally recognize one you validly formed somewhere else. The Indiana Attorney General has confirmed that the state follows the general rule: the validity of a marriage is governed by the law of the place where it was celebrated.4Office of the Attorney General. Official Opinion 2004-3 This works through comity, meaning states voluntarily respect each other’s laws.
If you formed a common law marriage in Colorado, Iowa, or another recognizing state and then moved to Indiana, your marriage travels with you. You can file for divorce in Indiana as a married couple, inherit as a surviving spouse, and make medical decisions for each other. The catch is that the burden of proof lands on whoever claims the marriage exists, and courts require convincing evidence that every element of the originating state’s rules was satisfied.
What You Have to Prove
Requirements vary by state, but most recognizing jurisdictions look for three things.
Mutual agreement. Both partners must have voluntarily agreed, at the same time, to be married. This is the hardest element because it’s an internal state of mind. One-sided belief isn’t enough; the intent had to be shared.
Cohabitation as spouses. The couple must have lived together in the recognizing state in a way that resembled marriage rather than a roommate arrangement. Minimum durations vary; some states set none at all.
Holding out as married. The couple must have consistently represented themselves to the community as married. This is where documentation makes or breaks the case: joint federal tax returns filed as married, shared surname, joint leases and mortgages, spousal beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and insurance, and referring to each other as husband or wife in writing and in public.
Testimony alone that “we considered ourselves married” rarely carries the day. A 1956 Indiana Law Journal analysis noted that cohabitation, reputation, tax returns, insurance designations, and even the birth of children don’t independently establish a marriage contract. They corroborate the existence of an actual agreement. Miss even one of the three elements and an Indiana court will decline to recognize the union.
Where You’d Have to Form One
Only a small number of jurisdictions still permit new common law marriages:
- Colorado
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Montana
- Oklahoma
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- District of Columbia
Several other states honor common law marriages only if formed before a specific cutoff. Alabama’s cutoff is January 1, 2017. Georgia’s is January 1, 1997. Pennsylvania’s is January 1, 2005. South Carolina’s is July 24, 2019. Ohio stopped recognizing new common law marriages after October 10, 1991. New Hampshire recognizes them only for inheritance purposes. Each state sets its own requirements, so simply spending time in one of them doesn’t create a marriage automatically.
Federal Consequences Still Follow You
Even though Indiana didn’t issue the license, a valid common law marriage brings real federal effects.
Taxes
The IRS recognizes a common law marriage for federal tax purposes if the marriage is valid under the law of the state where it was entered into, regardless of where the couple currently lives.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 17 – Your Federal Income Tax A couple with a valid Colorado common law marriage now living in Indiana can file as married filing jointly. For 2026, the standard deduction for married couples filing jointly is $32,200, compared to $16,100 for single filers.6Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
The flip side: once you’re married for IRS purposes, you must file jointly or married filing separately. Single and head of household are off the table (except in specific separation situations). For two similar earners, that can raise taxes rather than lower them.
Social Security
The Social Security Administration looks to the law of the state where the insured worker was domiciled at the time of application or death. If Indiana is that state, SSA will evaluate whether the marriage was validly formed in the originating state.7Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.726 – Evidence of Common-Law Marriage A surviving common law spouse typically has to submit signed statements from the surviving spouse and two blood relatives of the deceased worker. When that evidence isn’t available, SSA will consider other convincing proof. For Supplemental Security Income, a separate and broader standard applies: SSA looks at whether the couple held themselves out to the community as married, regardless of state law.8Social Security Administration. SSR 76-27
If You’re Unmarried in Indiana, You Need Paperwork
Because Indiana won’t create a marriage for you no matter how long you stay together, a long-term unmarried couple has to build legal protection deliberately. Without it, your partner is effectively a legal stranger: no inheritance rights, no medical decision authority, no claim to shared property beyond what’s titled in their own name.
Cohabitation Agreements
A cohabitation agreement is a written contract between unmarried partners covering how property, finances, and debts are handled during the relationship and split if it ends. Indiana courts treat these as enforceable contracts. Without one, no legal framework exists for dividing what you accumulated together, because Indiana’s divorce and property statutes only apply to married couples. Drafting fees typically run from several hundred to a few thousand dollars, which is far less than an unstructured breakup can cost in litigation.
Healthcare Documents
Indiana law lets any competent adult appoint a healthcare representative to make medical decisions during incapacity.9Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 16-36-1-7 – Appointed Representative A power of attorney for healthcare can also grant broader authority over health-related matters.10Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 30-5-5-16 – Health Care Powers Without one of these documents, your unmarried partner may have no legal standing to make decisions about your care. Married spouses sit near the top of the statutory hierarchy of decision-makers; unmarried partners aren’t in it.
Wills, Trusts, and Beneficiaries
Under Indiana’s intestate succession rules, someone who dies without a will passes their estate to a surviving spouse, children, parents, or other blood relatives. An unmarried partner receives nothing. A surviving spouse would inherit at least half the estate and potentially all of it. An unmarried partner of thirty years inherits zero.
A will or revocable living trust is the only way to ensure your partner inherits. A trust has the added benefit of avoiding probate. Review beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and bank accounts as well, since those designations override whatever a will says.
How You Title Real Estate
When two unmarried people buy real estate together in Indiana, the default form of ownership is tenancy in common.11Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-17-2-1 – Application; Two or More Persons If one owner dies, their share passes through their estate, not to the surviving co-owner. It could end up with the deceased partner’s family members. To avoid that, the deed must specifically state that the owners hold the property “in joint tenancy and to the survivor of them.” That language creates a right of survivorship and moves the property automatically to the surviving owner outside of probate. Get the language right at purchase; fixing it later requires a new deed.
If the relationship ends and joint owners can’t agree what to do with shared property, either can file a partition action to force resolution.12Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-17-4-2.5 – Procedure for Partition Actions Forced sales often yield less than a negotiated private sale, which is why an upfront cohabitation agreement is the cheaper path.
Divorcing a Recognized Common Law Marriage
If Indiana recognizes your out-of-state common law marriage, it treats the marriage identically to a licensed one for dissolution. You cannot simply separate and consider it finished. You file for dissolution in an Indiana court like any married couple.
Indiana is an equitable distribution state. In a divorce, all property owned by either spouse before or during the marriage goes into the “marital pot,” and the court starts with a presumption of equal division.13Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-15-7-4 – Division of Property Either spouse can argue for an unequal split based on economic circumstances, earning capacity, contributions to the marriage, tax consequences, and asset dissipation. Indiana does not automatically carve out “separate property” you brought into the marriage; a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement is the tool for that.
Spousal maintenance is limited in Indiana. Courts can award it primarily when a spouse is physically or mentally incapacitated to the point where earning ability is materially affected.14Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-15-7-2 – Findings Concerning Maintenance Rehabilitative maintenance exists but is typically short. Long-term alimony is uncommon.