PA. COMMONWEALTH COURT Common law marriage abolished

The ruling does not affect current common law marriages, only future ones.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Tossing aside centuries of tradition, a Pennsylvania appeals court has issued a landmark ruling abolishing common law marriage, saying it is no longer practical for couples to wed without a state license.
By a split vote, the Commonwealth Court said the state's practice of recognizing unions sealed by a simple private vow has created an impossible situation for third parties trying to determine whether a person is married or single.
"Many sound reasons exist to abandon a system that allows the determination of important rights to rest on evidence fraught with inconsistencies, ambiguities and vagaries," Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter wrote in a decision filed Wednesday.
She added that the circumstances that created a need for common law marriage -- namely, the potential unavailability of a preacher in Colonial times and the dependence of women on men for support -- have dissipated.
The ruling, made in the case of a Munhall man who sought pension benefits after his common-law wife died in the 1994 crash of USAir Flight 427, will not affect any common law marriages, but in the future will bar people from entering into them, the court said.
On that basis, the court unanimously found in favor of the plaintiff, John Kretz, who argued that he was entitled to the benefits Janet Stamos accrued while working at PNC Bank.
Dissent
Two of the seven judges concurred with that finding but dissented from the decision to bar future common law marriages, saying the court had usurped the Legislature's authority.
"When the people desire to abolish common law marriages, they should do so through their elected representatives in the Legislature," Judge Doris A. Smith-Ribner wrote. "That the majority of this Court has taken a position which is in complete and total contradiction of case law is pretty obvious."
Pennsylvania was one of 11 states to recognize common law marriage. Others have done away with them over time. An appeal by either side would have to be heard by the state's Supreme Court.
The decision surprised Kretz, who said he and his wife had put off a formal wedding until they could afford to give the ceremony a royal treatment.
But, not wanting to let money dictate when they could start their lives together, Kretz said they exchanged vows privately in 1989.
They kept separate bank accounts and Stamos kept her maiden name, but Kretz said he gave her a diamond ring, and the couple later signed an affidavit declaring themselves man and wife when they needed to apply for benefits from Kretz's union.
"It fit into our plans," Kretz said Thursday. "What is a marriage? There are religious marriages. You can go before a justice of the peace. But all [a license] is is a piece of paper. A real marriage is between two people ... and it is just as much a state of mind."
What's considered
In the past, Pennsylvania courts have looked at everything from a couple's tax filing status (married or single) to whether a woman has begun using her partner's last name, to determine whether a common law marriage was valid.
Northwestern University School of Law professor Cynthia Grant Bowman, whose writings on common law marriage were cited in the court's majority opinion, said she thought the court had done away with an important protection for women.
"I'm worried about the rights of women who, just as in a marriage, have contributed years of support to a man's career ... and could be very vulnerable at the termination of a relationship," she said.
She said state recognition of common law marriages prevents women who have curtailed their education or given up a career to act as homemakers from being abandoned in a breakup.
PNC's lawyer, Joseph A. Fricker, said his client hadn't decided yet whether to appeal.
Common law marriage in general, he said, has posed a tremendous problem for large employers, insurance companies and pension fund administrators who have to decide whether a person who claims the status is a legitimate spouse or a fraud.
He said it has become common for couples living together to claim to be in a common law marriage to get alimony or health care benefits but say they are single if it helps lower their taxes.
"The problem is, nobody will ever know how many common law marriages are real marriages, and how many are not," Fricker said.
Asked to comment on the ruling, PNC Bank spokesman Brian Goerke said the company "maintains no corporate position on whether common law marriage should be abolished," he said. "This was a legal argument that was raised specifically for this case."