Your spouse dies--Do you remarry?

[PDH]

How do the authorities decide what is "living as husband and wife"  ?

Fight a lot and no longer have sex.

[Valmy]

Fight a lot and no longer have sex.

Hey!  Some of us get along wonderfully and no longer have sex.

[merithyn]

Fight a lot and no longer have sex.

Hey!  Some of us get along wonderfully and no longer have sex.

And some of us get along wonderfully and still have sex! 

[CountDeMoney]

How do the authorities decide what is "living as husband and wife"  ?

Also, can you be effectively forced into being considered as having a common-law marriage against your will?

You have to do something to trigger it.  Like file jointly for taxes or have a kid together while living together.  The State has to notice you are doing Husband and Wifely stuff.  At least that is how it works here.

In Maryland, I believe all it takes is established cohabitation for a period of time.  So it sorta triggers itself.

[Eddie Teach]

Fight a lot and no longer have sex.

Hey!  Some of us get along wonderfully and no longer have sex.

You need to fight more so you can have makeup sex.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I wonder what happens if one runs two households in Texas; say, one in Dallas during the week and another in rural Texas for the weekends.............would one end up committing common-law bigamy  ?

[Valmy]

I wonder what happens if one runs two households in Texas; say, one in Dallas during the week and another in rural Texas for the weekends.............would one end up committing common-law bigamy  ?

With different women?  The State would probably go with whatever one was first.

[MadImmortalMan]

So did MiM kill his wife yet?

No, I decided I like having her around. 

[crazy canuck]

Also, can you be effectively forced into being considered as having a common-law marriage against your will?

Yes, it really has nothing to do with your will, it has to do with creating a legal responsibility if you treated her like a wife for 2 years or more - at least in this jurisdiction.  If there is a dispute about the status it is resolved by the court.  But basically if you have been living together and having sex during those two years you are probably a common law couple - at least in this jurisdiction.

[Josquius]

How long do you have to be apart to break the chain?
Say if I'm approaching the two years but don't want to be married, for how long do I have to go away to reset the count?

I shared a house with another bloke for a couple of years back in the day, does that mean we would have accidentally set up a gay marriage under Swedish law?

Alternatively, I also shared a flat with some women for a couple of years and had sex with one of them once, how would the Swedish system deal with that?

No idea.
Though that's not so common in Sweden. Flat sharing is quite a horrible British thing, most countries seem to have plentiful one person flats

[merithyn]

No idea.
Though that's not so common in Sweden. Flat sharing is quite a horrible British thing, most countries seem to have plentiful one person flats

Nope. The US has that in abundance, too. Not because there aren't enough one-person apartments, but because nobody can afford to live on their own.

[garbon]

No idea.
Though that's not so common in Sweden. Flat sharing is quite a horrible British thing, most countries seem to have plentiful one person flats

Nope. The US has that in abundance, too. Not because there aren't enough one-person apartments, but because nobody can afford to live on their own.

Nobody is a bit broad.

[merithyn]

Nope. The US has that in abundance, too. Not because there aren't enough one-person apartments, but because nobody can afford to live on their own.

Nobody is a bit broad.

You knew what I meant.

[garbon]

Nope. The US has that in abundance, too. Not because there aren't enough one-person apartments, but because nobody can afford to live on their own.

Nobody is a bit broad.

You knew what I meant.

The 2011 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey had that 34% of renters lived in apts by themselves. If you add in married couples to that (as presumably they live together because they want to and not solely for economic reasons), you've 65% of renters in NYC not fitting what you said.

[merithyn]

The 2011 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey had that 34% of renters lived in apts by themselves. If you add in married couples to that (as presumably they live together because they want to and not solely for economic reasons), you've 65% of renters in NYC not fitting what you said.

Oh for god's sake, garbon.  It's like dealing with my fucking teenagers.

That's still 35% of people who live with a roommate, most likely for financial reasons. That's a lot, and I bet it's pretty much on par with the UK; London in particular. Which was, I think you know, the point of the post.

So, it's a lot, okay? Maybe not "nobody" but pretty much everyone knew that, didn't they? Of course, it required the snarky-barely-post-teen-literalist to make a big deal about it.