For that matter, check into the same motel room and you were automatically common-law spouses, if one of you wasn't already married!

Both married spouses and common-law spouses may be entitled to spousal support.

(Common-law spouses are considered immediate family if the state recognizes common-law marriages.)

An important distinction between the two is that common-law spouses must start an action claiming spousal support within one year of the breakdown of the relationship.

In 1905 the final verdict declared the marriage legal, making Espíritu the first common-law spouse to win legal rights in the state, and she inherited the rancho.

Attorney General Meni Mazuz said the couples will be treated the same as common-law spouses, recognizing them as legal units for tax, real estate, and financial purposes.

According to the Alberta Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Development, "adult interdependent partner is the new name in Alberta for a common-law spouse.

During a phone call, an angry street minister in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., denounces the documentation that common-law spouses or girlfriends are required to show when they seek help at Pier 94.

He and his family (common-law spouse Deb Bowers and son Isaac Harvey) moved to British Columbia that same month, first spending nine months in Castlegar, then moving permanently to Vancouver.

Her common-law spouse Roberto Stagno, a prominent tenor from Sicily, sang opposite her in the role of Turiddu at that same premiere performance: they had met on a tour of Argentina in 1886.

Ms. Reyes and Mr. Lopez, natives of a small town near Puebla, Mexico, had two children over the course of their nine-year relationship and, as such, would qualify as common-law spouses under Mexican law.

It was, for instance, a common-law state; live together with someone for seven months in such a way that everyone knew you were sharing a bed, and you were common-law spouses and liable for each other's debts under the law.

A second important distinction is that only married couples may divorce under the federal Divorce Act, common-law spouses may only separate under provincial legislation, such as Ontario's Family Law Act or British Columbia's Family Relation's Act.