Editing Common-law marriage (section)

==Terminology==
Common-law marriage is a marriage that takes legal effect without the prerequisites of a marriage license or participation in a marriage ceremony. The marriage occurs when two people who are legally capable of being married, and who intend to be married, live together as a married couple and hold themselves out to the world as a married couple.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Solernou |first1=Daniel J. |title=Common-Law Marriage |journal=Encyclopedia of Family Studies |date=2016 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs301|isbn=9780470658451 }}</ref>

===Common-law marriage vs. cohabitation===
The term "common-law marriage" is often used incorrectly to describe various types of couple relationships, such as [[cohabitation]] (whether or not registered) or other legally formalized relations. Although these interpersonal relationships are often called "common-law marriage", they differ from its original meaning in that they are not legally recognized as "marriages", but may be a parallel interpersonal status such as a "domestic partnership", "registered partnership", "common law partner" "conjugal union", or "civil union". Non-marital relationship contracts are not necessarily recognized from one jurisdiction to another.

In Canada, while some provinces may extend to couples in marriage-like relationships many of the rights and responsibilities of a marriage, they are not legally considered married. They may be legally defined as "unmarried [[spouse]]s" and for many purposes such as taxes and financial claims, and within those contexts treated the same as married spouses.<ref name=clicklaw>{{cite web| title=Unmarried Spouses| url=http://wiki.clicklaw.bc.ca/index.php/Unmarried_Spouses| date=24 October 2014 | publisher=JP Boyd on Family Law| access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.court.nl.ca/supreme/family/faq.html#Q13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127035717/http://www.court.nl.ca/supreme/family/faq.html#Q13|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 27, 2011|title=Family Law FAQ|publisher=Court.nl.ca|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref>

A 2008 poll in the UK showed that 51% of respondents incorrectly believed that cohabitants had the same rights as married couples.<ref>{{cite web|title="Common Law Marriage" myth needs addressing, say MPs|url=http://www.resolution.org.uk/news-list.asp?page_id=228&n_id=207|website=Resolution|access-date=11 September 2017|date=16 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222131349/http://www.resolution.org.uk/news-list.asp?page_id=228&n_id=207|archive-date=22 December 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In Scotland, common-law marriage does not exist, although there was a type of irregular marriage called 'marriage by cohabitation with habit and repute' which could apply to couples in special circumstances until 2006, and was abolished by the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 (irregular marriages established before 4 May 2006 are recognised).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/family/living-together-marriage-and-civil-partnership-s/living-together-and-opposite-sex-marriage-legal-differences-s/ | title=Living together and opposite-sex marriage: Legal differences }}</ref>