Common Law Marriage in Wyoming: Is It Recognized? (2026)
Common Law Marriage in Wyoming: Is It Recognized? (2026)
Wyoming does not allow couples to form a common law marriage within the state. State law has always required a marriage license and a formal ceremony, and no court has ever recognized a common law marriage created in Wyoming. If you and your partner live in Wyoming and want the legal protections of marriage, you must obtain a license and solemnize the marriage. The one important exception is that Wyoming will recognize a common law marriage that was validly formed somewhere else.
Information last verified on June 2, 2026.
For context on how other states handle this topic, see Common law marriage by state.
Does Wyoming recognize common law marriage?
No. Wyoming has never permitted couples to form a common law marriage within its borders. The governing statute is Wyo. Stat. section 20-1-101, which establishes that a marriage in Wyoming requires a license issued by the county clerk and a solemnization by an authorized officiant. There is no alternative informal path to marriage under Wyoming law, and Wyoming courts have consistently held that cohabitation and mutual intent, without a license and ceremony, do not create a legal marriage.
This has been the rule in Wyoming since the state's earliest marriage statutes, and the legislature has never created an exception. Wyoming is therefore classified among the majority of states that have either abolished common law marriage or never recognized its formation.
The practical consequence is straightforward: two people who live together in Wyoming, share finances, refer to each other as husband and wife, and intend to be married are not legally married under Wyoming law unless they have obtained a license and gone through a solemnization. Without that formal step, neither partner has automatic inheritance rights, no spousal privilege applies in legal proceedings, and neither can make healthcare decisions for the other based on marital status alone.
What Wyoming law actually requires
Wyo. Stat. section 20-1-101 sets out the requirements for a valid Wyoming marriage. The marriage must be contracted by two individuals who are legally eligible to marry each other. The couple must obtain a marriage license from the county clerk of the county in which either party resides or in which the marriage is to be performed. The marriage must then be solemnized by an officiant authorized under Wyoming law, such as a judge, magistrate, or ordained religious minister.
Section 20-1-102 identifies who may solemnize marriages, and section 20-1-104 governs the license requirements. Nothing in Title 20 of the Wyoming statutes creates or acknowledges a common law or informal marriage path. Courts interpreting these statutes have found the requirements to be mandatory, not merely procedural.
The Wyoming Supreme Court has not issued a modern ruling recognizing common law marriage because there is no legal basis for one under current Wyoming law. Any claim to a common law marriage formed in Wyoming would fail at the threshold.
Out-of-state common law marriages recognized in Wyoming
Although Wyoming does not allow common law marriages to form here, it does recognize a common law marriage that was validly formed in another state. This recognition flows from two sources: the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the US Constitution (Article IV, Section 1), which requires states to honor the public acts and judicial proceedings of other states, and the common law doctrine of comity, under which courts extend deference to the law of the state where a relationship was created.
The states that currently allow couples to form a new common law marriage include Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Rhode Island, and Texas, among others. If a couple forms a valid common law marriage in one of those states, satisfying all of that state's requirements, and then relocates to Wyoming, Wyoming courts and government agencies will treat them as legally married.
The critical requirement is that the marriage must have been valid where it was formed. Wyoming does not apply its own law to assess whether the relationship met the standards of the state of formation; it asks only whether the relationship satisfied the requirements of the state that permits common law marriage. If the out-of-state common law marriage was legally valid there, Wyoming will recognize it here.
This rule matters in a range of practical situations: inheritance when a partner dies without a will, eligibility for spousal benefits with an employer, filing state taxes as married, making healthcare decisions under Wyoming's healthcare surrogate statutes, and divorce proceedings if the relationship ends while the couple lives in Wyoming.
How to prove an out-of-state common law marriage in Wyoming
When a couple claims that their out-of-state common law marriage is valid in Wyoming, the burden falls on the person asserting the marriage to prove it. Wyoming courts will look at whether the couple satisfied the requirements of the state where the marriage was formed. The types of evidence that support an out-of-state common law marriage claim include:
- Testimony about where the couple was living when they began holding themselves out as married, along with the dates.
- Joint federal income tax returns filed as married in the state of formation.
- Lease agreements, mortgage documents, or other records showing cohabitation in the state that permits common law marriage.
- Employer benefit enrollment records listing the partner as a spouse.
- Affidavits from family members, friends, or coworkers in the state of formation who understood the couple to be married.
- Birth records for children listing both parties as parents.
- Insurance policies, wills, or bank accounts identifying the other as spouse.
The more documentation a couple has showing that they met the legal requirements of the originating state, the stronger the claim. Wyoming courts will evaluate the evidence under the law of the state where the marriage was allegedly formed, not under Wyoming law.
How a recognized common law marriage ends in Wyoming
Once Wyoming recognizes an out-of-state common law marriage, that marriage carries the same legal weight as any Wyoming ceremonial marriage. It can only end in one of two ways: through a formal divorce proceeding in Wyoming district court, or by the death of one spouse.
There is no such thing as a common law divorce. Two partners who arrived in Wyoming with a valid common law marriage from another state cannot dissolve that marriage by simply separating or agreeing to part ways. Until a Wyoming court enters a divorce decree, both parties remain legally married, regardless of how long they have been separated or how thoroughly they have disentangled their finances. Any subsequent attempt to marry another person while the first marriage is still legally intact would result in a void marriage.
A Wyoming divorce of a recognized common law marriage follows the same rules as any other Wyoming divorce, including equitable distribution of marital property under Wyo. Stat. section 20-2-114 and alimony considerations under section 20-2-114.
The 7-year myth
One of the most persistent myths in American family law is that living together for seven years creates a common law marriage. This rule does not exist in Wyoming or in any other US state. No Wyoming statute sets a cohabitation period that produces a legal marriage, and no Wyoming court has ever held that a specific number of years of cohabitation creates a marriage in the absence of a license.
The seven-year figure appears to have originated from a misreading of old ecclesiastical law concepts and has no foundation in any US state statute, past or present. In Wyoming, a couple could cohabit for thirty years, share all finances, refer to each other as spouses, and raise children together, and they would still not be legally married without a license and ceremony (unless they formed a valid common law marriage in a state that allows it before relocating to Wyoming).
Unmarried cohabitants in Wyoming should not assume that time alone creates legal rights. The absence of marriage means the absence of automatic spousal protections, including intestacy inheritance, spousal privilege, and the right to participate in healthcare decisions.
Protecting yourself without a formal marriage in Wyoming
Because Wyoming does not recognize common law marriage formation, couples who live together and want legal protections for each other need to take affirmative steps. The most reliable protection is to obtain a Wyoming marriage license and solemnize the marriage. For couples who choose not to marry, the following tools can approximate some of the protections that marriage provides:
- A will or revocable trust directing property to a partner, since Wyoming intestacy law does not distribute an estate to an unmarried partner.
- A durable financial power of attorney naming the partner as agent, allowing the partner to handle financial and legal matters if one person is incapacitated.
- A healthcare power of attorney or advance directive under Wyoming's Healthcare Decisions Act (Wyo. Stat. sections 35-22-401 through 35-22-416), naming the partner as the healthcare agent.
- Joint tenancy with right of survivorship on real property, so that the property passes to the surviving partner without probate.
- Beneficiary designations on life insurance, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death bank accounts.
These documents do not create a marriage, but they can protect a partner's interests in many of the practical situations where marital status otherwise controls.
Disclaimer: This page provides general legal information about Wyoming marriage law and is not legal advice. Laws can change, and individual circumstances vary significantly. Consult a licensed Wyoming family law attorney for advice about your specific situation.
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Last updated: June 2, 2026.