Does the common law marriage exist in Mississippi at all and how can I get legally married? I need some advice!?

linkus86

Your Mom is correct, back in the day common law marriage did used to exist if you lived together for a certain amount of time the law would recognize you as a married couple. But they abolished that law in 1954. And Mom is also correct that there are certain disadvantages to getting legally married (or cohabitating) if you receive any type of government benefits because you have to count your husband's income as your own too which may inhibit you from receiving as much as you could on your own and the way you describe it, it sounds like Mom and your "husband" are complicit in welfare fraud already. Thus getting legally married would only serve to wave a red flag at the authorities to take away your benefits and get everyone into trouble for their past sins. Assuming you receive SSI not SSDI the only way you could get married without losing your benefits is if your husband also qualified to receive SSI and did not work allowing him also to receive Medicaid like you.

C

No, common law marriage does not exist in Mississippi. "States that do recognize common law marriage include the following: Alabama, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia (if created prior to 1997), Idaho (if created before 1996), Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire (for inheritance purposes only), Ohio (if created prior to 10/1991), Oklahoma, Pennsylvania (if created before 9/2003), Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Utah." Anna Nicole Smith was legally married to her husband. She and one of her late husband's sons were left out of her husband's will. That was the controversy, not the legality of the marriage. "Dating" someone for any number of years doesn't mean anything. You get legally married by getting legally married. You and your boyfriend go to city hall, apply for a marriage license, and have the union solemnized by a person who can legally do so in the state of Mississippi. Your spouse's income will affect the amount of the SSI check your mother gets, that's why she doesn't want you to legally marry. You, your boyfriend, and Mom can determine whether it would be an unacceptable hardship to legally marry. I don't know why your boyfriend (he's not your husband) would go to prison. I suppose if someone filed false information on taxes, one of you could. Don't commit fraud filing false information on your tax returns. The government takes that pretty seriously.

Anonymous

Try taking a cake decorating class at Michael's and go by the cottage law bake cupcakes and cakes and decorate them if you think you can't do it there are even some cut outs and molds to decorate for you. If you get SSDI off your mom's record you can still get some and work.

BeatriceBatten

There's no such thing as "just legally married." You're either married or you aren't. If you didn't get a marriage license for that little ceremony of yours, then you're not married and this guy is not your husband. You need a marriage license, and a ceremony led by a properly certified officiant, in order to be married. If you're old enough to get married then you're old enough to not let Mommy tell you what to do. You're also old enough to consult a lawyer or the county health and human services representative, or a representative from the disability office, about your questions. If your disability means that someone has to take care of you and make these kinds of decisions for you, then you should probably consult a health and human services/welfare/disability government representative and maybe a lawyer to find out what exactly this entails and make sure nobody can take advantage of you. "Common law marriage" rarely exists in the US, and even so it's not what you seem to think it is. Or what your mother has misled/fooled you into thinking what it is. I would think long and hard about depending on your mom if she either doesn't know what she's talking about or is deliberately lying to you in order to manipulate you.

Anonymous

You need to consult your social worker. Your mother may be trying to mislead you.

Anonymous

There is no such thing as common law marriage in the USA. You are not married.

g: Google is your friend

Google is your friend: " Common law marriage was recognized in Mississippi up until 1956." So no, there's no common law marriage in Mississippi. You "had" to do it that way in order to lie and cheat your way into government assistance, plain and simple. That "normal wedding" wasn't anything but to appease whoever to make it okay for y'all to live together. It wasn't/isn't a legal marriage and was a big fat waste of funds that would have been better spent actually supporting your family. My stomp and shnort aside, your disability has nothing to do with your marital status, and might not change. However, any other government assistance [Medicaid, housing, food stamps etc] would most definitely be affected were you to get married - presumably there would be less/no need as your husband was supporting the family. And finally - if you're old enough to have a boyfriend of 14 years [and presumably a family of your own], it's time to stop saying "my mother says ..." Be an adult.

The Football God

In Mississippi? You know after marriage, when the divorce is settled, she'll still be your sister.

Stylem

You are legally married, at common law. The common law is always there, underlying any statute law. You don’t need to get married under statute law because 1. you’re already married. The common law recognizes your exchange of vows makes you married, and 2. your income will get cut off.