Common Law Marriage in North Dakota: Is It Recognized? (2026)

North Dakota does not recognize common law marriage formed within the state. Under N.D.C.C. 14-03-01, the marriage relation may be entered into, maintained, annulled, or dissolved only as provided by law, and N.D.C.C. 14-03-10 bars any person from solemnizing a marriage until the parties produce a valid license. North Dakota abrogated nonceremonial marriage in 1890, shortly after statehood, so no living couple holds a grandfathered North Dakota common law marriage. North Dakota does, however, recognize a common law marriage that was validly formed in another state, under N.D.C.C. 14-03-08 and subject to that section's exception.

Information last verified on June 2, 2026.

Does North Dakota recognize common law marriage?

North Dakota does not allow couples to form a common law marriage within the state. Title 14, chapter 03 of the North Dakota Century Code governs marriage, and the controlling rule sits in N.D.C.C. 14-03-01: marriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract to which the consent of the parties is essential, and the marriage relation may be entered into, maintained, annulled, or dissolved only as provided by law. That last clause is what forecloses informal marriage. N.D.C.C. 14-03-10 then provides that a person may not solemnize any marriage until the parties produce a license issued not more than sixty days before the date of the marriage, and N.D.C.C. 14-03-09 identifies the officials and clergy authorized to solemnize.

North Dakota did not simply skip the common law marriage doctrine. Nonceremonial marriage existed here and was abrogated by the 1890 legislature, shortly after statehood. The North Dakota Supreme Court said so directly in Cermak v. Cermak, 1997 ND 187, 569 N.W.2d 280, holding that merely cohabiting is insufficient to create a marital relationship because North Dakota abrogated common-law marriages shortly after statehood. The court cited N.D.C.C. 14-03-01 and Schumacher v. Great Northern Ry. Co., 136 N.W. 85, 86 (N.D. 1912), which noted that the 1890 legislature clearly intended to abrogate nonceremonial marriages. Some states abolished common law marriage recently enough that a grandfathered class of couples still exists, their informal marriages having been formed before the cutoff. North Dakota's cutoff is more than a century old, so as a practical matter no living couple can claim a North Dakota-formed common law marriage.

The practical consequence is straightforward: a couple that cohabits in North Dakota for any number of years, holds itself out publicly as married, files joint tax returns, and genuinely considers itself married has nonetheless not formed a legally recognized marriage under North Dakota law without a license and ceremony. Intent and cohabitation, however longstanding, do not substitute for the statutory formalities.

Why North Dakota requires a license and solemnization

North Dakota's formal marriage requirements reflect the legislature's policy choice to maintain a clear, public record of marital status. The license requirement creates an official record through the county recorder's office before the ceremony takes place. The solemnization requirement ensures a recognizable event marks the transition to married status.

These requirements serve several purposes that courts and legislators across the country have identified over time: they protect both parties by making the legal consequences of marriage clear at the outset, they create a public record that simplifies questions of inheritance, property rights, and benefits eligibility, and they avoid the evidentiary difficulties that arise when parties later dispute whether a marriage was ever formed at all.

It is worth being precise about which statute carries the legal weight. Chapter 14-03 does not declare an unlicensed marriage void anywhere in its text. The only marriages the chapter voids outright are the incestuous marriages listed in N.D.C.C. 14-03-03 and the bigamous marriages described in N.D.C.C. 14-03-06. The license and solemnization sections, 14-03-10 and 14-03-09, are addressed to the person performing the ceremony rather than to the couple. The bar on informal marriage therefore rests on N.D.C.C. 14-03-01 and its requirement that the marriage relation be entered into only as provided by law. That is the provision the North Dakota Supreme Court cited in Cermak when it declined to treat a long-term cohabiting relationship as a de facto marriage.

For couples who cohabit in North Dakota without marrying, the state does not provide a parallel legal status equivalent to marriage. Long-term cohabiting partners do not acquire marital rights simply by living together, regardless of the duration or nature of the relationship.

Does North Dakota recognize a common law marriage from another state?

Yes, in most cases, and the rule is statutory rather than constitutional. N.D.C.C. 14-03-08, titled Foreign marriages recognized - Exception, provides that except when residents of this state contract a marriage in another state which is prohibited under the laws of this state, all marriages contracted outside this state, which are valid according to the laws of the state or country where contracted, are valid in this state.

Two things follow from that text. First, the governing test is the law of the place where the marriage was contracted. If a couple satisfied the requirements of a state that permits common law marriage, North Dakota treats the resulting marriage as valid here even though the same conduct in North Dakota would create nothing.

Second, the section carries its own exception, and it is a real limit rather than a formality. A North Dakota resident who travels to another state specifically to contract a marriage that North Dakota law prohibits does not gain recognition by crossing a state line. North Dakota's prohibitions include the incestuous marriages listed in N.D.C.C. 14-03-03 and the bigamous marriages described in N.D.C.C. 14-03-06.

One dated limit in the chapter is worth naming. The final sentence of 14-03-08 states that the section applies only to a marriage between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and 14-03-01 contains similar opposite-sex language. Those clauses remain in the printed code, but they are unenforceable after Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which requires every state to license same-sex marriages and to recognize same-sex marriages lawfully performed elsewhere.

Practically, this means that a couple who formed a valid common law marriage in Colorado, in Texas under Texas Family Code section 2.401, in Iowa based on the intent-and-holding-out standard, or in any other state that still permits common law marriage formation, retains that marital status when the couple moves to North Dakota. North Dakota courts treat the couple as legally married for purposes of divorce, property division, spousal support, inheritance, intestate succession, and all other legal incidents of marriage.

To establish North Dakota recognition of an out-of-state common law marriage, a party must show that the claimed marriage met all of the requirements of the state where it was allegedly formed. Colorado illustrates how that works. Colorado common law marriage is a judicial doctrine rather than a statutory one: a party must show mutual agreement to enter the marital relationship and conduct manifesting that agreement, the two-part test adopted in In re the Marriage of Hogsett & Neale, 2021 CO 1, 478 P.3d 713. Hogsett replaced Colorado's older multi-factor test and held that no single factor, including public reputation as a married couple, is independently required; courts weigh the totality of the parties' conduct instead. Colorado's one statute on the subject, C.R.S. 14-2-109.5, does not create or define common law marriage. It provides only that a common law marriage entered into on or after September 1, 2006 is not recognized as valid unless both parties were at least eighteen years old and the marriage was not prohibited under C.R.S. 14-2-110.

How to prove a common law marriage formed in another state

A common law marriage leaves no license or certificate. The burden of proving that one exists falls on the party asserting it. The standard of proof and the specific elements are governed by the law of the state where the marriage was allegedly formed, but courts reviewing such evidence look at a consistent set of categories.

Evidence courts commonly consider includes:

• Joint federal and state income tax returns filed as married filing jointly or married filing separately
• Joint bank accounts, credit accounts, or investment accounts opened in both names
• Deeds, leases, or mortgage documents listing both parties as husband and wife or as spouses
• Life insurance policies or retirement account beneficiary designations naming the other party as a spouse
• Loan applications, credit applications, or government-benefit forms identifying the relationship as a marriage
• Testimony from family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, clergy, or others who knew the couple as married
• Correspondence, cards, social media posts, or other written records in which the parties referred to each other as husband, wife, or spouse
• Use of a shared last name or documented use of the other partner's last name
• Affidavits signed by both parties acknowledging the existence of a marriage

No single piece of evidence is automatically conclusive. Courts look at the totality of the relationship to determine whether the parties genuinely agreed to be married and held themselves out as married under the law of the state where the marriage was allegedly formed.

The 7-year myth

A widespread misconception holds that living together for seven years automatically creates a common law marriage. This is false in every state in the United States.

No state, including the states that still permit common law marriage formation, sets a minimum number of years of cohabitation as a requirement or an automatic trigger. The states that allow common law marriage focus on the intent and conduct of the parties: a mutual present agreement to be married, cohabitation in the permitting state, and public representation of the marriage to the community. Duration of cohabitation may be relevant as circumstantial evidence of the parties' intent, but there is no fixed number of years that by itself creates a marriage.

In North Dakota, where common law marriage formation is not permitted at all, the point is especially clear. No period of cohabitation in North Dakota, whether seven years or forty years, creates a legal marriage without a license and ceremony. The seven-year figure has no basis in North Dakota law or in the law of any other state.

How a common law marriage ends

A valid common law marriage, wherever it was formed, can only be terminated by formal divorce proceedings or by the death of a spouse. There is no such thing as a common law divorce, and no informal act dissolves a legal marriage.

This rule has significant practical consequences for North Dakota residents. A person with a valid out-of-state common law marriage who moves to North Dakota and separates from the other party without filing for divorce remains legally married under North Dakota law. Attempting to marry a new partner in North Dakota without first obtaining a divorce would produce a second marriage that is illegal and void from the beginning under N.D.C.C. 14-03-06. If you separated from a common law spouse without a divorce, ask a North Dakota family lawyer for a free case evaluation on the divorce before you marry again (attorney advertising).

North Dakota divorce proceedings for a valid common law marriage formed in another state follow the same rules as any other North Dakota divorce under N.D.C.C. chapter 14-05. The court applies North Dakota dissolution law to property, spousal support, and any parenting issues.

For more on the financial aspects of dissolving a marriage in North Dakota, see North Dakota alimony laws and North Dakota child support laws.

For a state-by-state comparison of which states recognize common law marriage, see Common law marriage by state.

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Disclaimer: This page provides general legal information about common law marriage recognition in North Dakota and is not legal advice. Marriage and family law determinations are fact-specific and depend on individual circumstances, including the law of the state where any claimed common law marriage was formed. This information was verified as of June 2, 2026. Consult a licensed North Dakota family law attorney for advice about your specific situation.

Last updated: June 2, 2026.

More North Dakota Laws

• North Dakota Alimony Laws
• North Dakota Divorce Laws

Frequently Asked Questions

Does North Dakota have common law marriage?

No. North Dakota abrogated nonceremonial marriage in 1890, shortly after statehood, and the North Dakota Supreme Court confirmed that abrogation in Cermak v. Cermak, 1997 ND 187. N.D.C.C. 14-03-01 provides that the marriage relation may be entered into only as provided by law, and N.D.C.C. 14-03-10 bars solemnization without a license. Because the cutoff is more than a century old, no living couple holds a grandfathered North Dakota common law marriage.

Is 7 years of living together considered common law marriage in North Dakota?

No. This is a myth with no basis in law. No state, including North Dakota, sets a minimum number of years of cohabitation as a trigger for common law marriage. North Dakota does not allow common law marriage formation at all, so no period of cohabitation in the state creates a legal marriage without a license and ceremony.

Does North Dakota recognize a common law marriage from another state?

Yes, in most cases. N.D.C.C. 14-03-08 provides that all marriages contracted outside North Dakota that are valid where they were contracted are valid in North Dakota. The section carries one exception: North Dakota residents who go to another state to contract a marriage that is prohibited under North Dakota law do not gain recognition by doing so. A couple who formed a valid common law marriage in Colorado, Texas, Iowa, or another permitting state generally retains that marital status in North Dakota.

How do I prove a common law marriage in North Dakota that was formed in another state?

You must show that the marriage met all the requirements of the state where it was formed. Evidence courts consider includes joint tax returns filed as married, joint bank accounts, deeds or leases listing both parties as spouses, insurance policies naming the other party as a spouse, and testimony from people who knew the couple as married. Courts look at the totality of the evidence under the law of the state where the marriage was allegedly formed.

What states allow common law marriage that North Dakota would recognize?

As of 2026, the states that still allow formation of new common law marriages include Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma (with some contested recognition), Rhode Island, Texas (called informal marriage under Texas Family Code section 2.401), and Utah (requires a court order). The District of Columbia also recognizes common law marriage. A marriage validly formed in any of those jurisdictions is generally recognized in North Dakota under N.D.C.C. 14-03-08, subject to that section's exception for residents who leave the state to contract a marriage North Dakota prohibits.

Does a common law marriage require a divorce to end in North Dakota?

Yes, if the common law marriage was validly formed in another state. A legal marriage, whether ceremonial or common law, can only be dissolved by divorce, annulment, or death. There is no informal dissolution. A person with a valid out-of-state common law marriage who moves to North Dakota must obtain a formal divorce before remarrying.

Can long-term cohabiting partners in North Dakota get marital rights without a marriage license?

No. North Dakota does not recognize any form of informal marriage, and there is no statewide domestic partnership registry for unmarried couples. Cohabiting partners, regardless of how long they have lived together or how they present themselves publicly, do not acquire marital rights in North Dakota without a valid marriage license and ceremony.