Common-Law Marriage

Here are more reasons for a documented common-law marriage:

• Nullify the marriage license.
  • Marriage licenses are a relatively new invention, historically speaking.  It is strictly a governmental invention that became prevalent in the United States only in the early 1900s and has no basis in the holy writings of any faith that we have ever heard of.  Previously, marriage was a private affair; an agreement between families that didn’t require government approval. Unfortunately, the idea that government must grant you permission to marry has been perpetuated in society and a contract with the state is now signed by most couples.
  • A license by definition, confers a right to do something that would otherwise be illegal.  If having a marriage license is the only way to get married, then how in the world have people been getting married illegally for thousands of years and getting away with it before licenses finally came into existence? Clearly, you do not need a government license to have a legal and lawful marriage in this world.
• If you believe marriage is ordained of God, then your actions can line up with this belief.
  • Why would one need the government’s permission to participate in something that God instituted?
    “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”
    (Genesis 2:18)
• You are not asking the government for permission to get married.
  • The State will not be a third party in your marriage contract.
• Declare your name change without a court order.
  • Your marriage contract will make a legal and lawful declaration of your name change.
• Third party verification.
  • In addition to the legal documentation you will have, we will provide 3rd party verification of all marriages we assist with.
• We will store extra copies of your marriage documentation in our vaults.
• Carry on the Ketubah tradition.
  • In Jewish tradition, proudly display your Ketubah (marriage contract) in your home for all to witness.
    
• Does the LDS church, recognize Common-law marriages?
  • The LDS church requires a civil marriage to be “legal and lawful”. All common-law marriages we have been involved with, where a temple sealing was requested, have been recognized as legal and lawful.
  • The LDS website, FamilySearch says the following about common-law marriages:
    
    
    
    Source: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/do-common-law-spouses-have-the-same-precedence-as-married-spouses
  • You’ll notice that this definition acknowledges common-law marriages, having never had any formal ceremonies at all, as sometimes legal and lawful.  In our case, we will go two steps above this, and help you have a ceremony and provide the proper documentation so you can always show your marriage is legal and lawful.
    
• Under the Constitution, no government power can interfere in your private contract.
  • When private contracts create relationships between individuals or entities, it creates a private relationship that legislation is constitutionally forbidden from interfering with. This private relationship is foreign to the state’s public jurisdiction. This article discusses the constitutional power of private contracts.  It is the fundamental principle that makes trusts possible, which is a long proven method for protecting property from inappropriate external interference.
  • Once a private trust is created by contract, that trust can hold any kind of property or entity within its private boundaries. Similarly, when you create a common-law marriage using private contracts, you have created such a private domain, where the couple is contracted to each other under God, and the state is not a party to the contract.  All sons and daughters or “chattel property” created by the parents under the jurisdiction of the covenant made with God, is protected under this private contract. No permission was ever asked from the government for this marriage to exist, it can lawfully rest in having private claim to all property within it. 
• Parens patriae – A state marriage strengthens a state’s claim if it tries to claim jurisdiction over the marriage and it’s property.
  • Parens patriae, Latin for “Parent of the People”, arguably can not apply to such a marriage created under the jurisdiction of a covenant with God, but can be argued to apply to a state-licensed marriage.
  • Wikipedia: Parens Patriae
  • Cornell Law: Parens Patriae
  • This is the fundamental principle upon which the state claims they can intervene into your children’s lives, overruling parental rights.
  • Parens patriae, along with all government regulations in general, should only apply to when you have willingly submitted to the public jurisdiction which made those regulations.

What if we are already married with a state license?

It is not too late! While it may be somewhat complicated depending on your family’s situation, it is possible to divorce your state license and renew your vows by signing a common-law contract.

Yes, it would require a formal, uncontested divorce. This way, your contract with the state will be broken and formally cut off. You then “renew your vows” and get re-married with this process. While it may seem difficult to navigate the state’s enforcement of “splitting assets and children”, you are in a better position than newlyweds! Nothing will need to change with your name, the bank, DMV, etc.