Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

Common Law Marriages
States that authorize common law marriage: Alabama, Colorado, District of
Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.
Sonya C. Garza, Common Law Marriage: A Proposal for the Revival of a Dying Doctrine, 40
New Eng. L. Rev. 541, 545 (2006).
Nebraska is not a “common law state,” however Nebraska will recognize the validity of
common law marriages formed in jurisdictions that allow for them. For more information on this
issue, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage_in_the_United_States
Essentially, in a common law marriage, two persons create a valid marital relationship
without the benefit of a legal marriage ceremony performed according to statutory requirements.
Denise K. Mills, Common Law Marriage in Colorado, 16 Colo. Law. 252 (Feb. 1987).
The United States Supreme Court has held that common law marriages are valid,
notwithstanding statutes that require ceremonial marriages to be solemnized by a minister or a
magistrate, if no specific provision to the contrary exists. Meister v. Moore, 96 U.S. 76, 24 L.Ed.
826 (1877).
Courts in various jurisdictions have uniformly declared that the common law age of
consent applies to common law marriages, even when statutes otherwise require parental or
judicial approval for persons under a specified age, unless those statutes expressly modify or
abrogate the common law. The common law marriage of a person is valid, regardless of
whether the person has reached the age of competency as established by statute, if the person
is competent under the common law. Under English common law, children below the age of
seven were incapable of marrying. After that age they could marry, but the marriage was
voidable until they became able to consummate it, which the law presumed to be at age
fourteen for males and twelve for females. 1 Homer H. Clark, Jr., The Law of Domestic
Relations in the United States § 2.1 (2d ed. 1987)
In the case of People v. Lucero, 747 P.2d 660 (Colo. 1987), the Colorado Supreme
Court set out the requirements for a valid common law marriage in Colorado. These
requirements are as follows:
- mutual consent or agreement of the parties to be husband and wife; followed by
- mutual assumption of the marital relationship
Spitz v. T.O. Haas Tire Co., 283 Neb. 811, ____ N.W.2d ____ (May 2012)
In Nebraska, a couple cannot create a common-law marriage by agreement or
cohabitation and reputation.
Conditional Judgments
Jensen v. Jensen, 275 Neb. 921, 750 N.W.2d 335 (2008)
Facts: Paternity order was modified after the parents of the minor child separated, to include a
judicially approved agreement whereby father paid mother $14,000 in cash, with the
understanding that mother would not ask father for child support for the parties’ minor child, but
that if she changed her mind, the father would be entitled to an equitable credit for the $14,000.
Numerous modification actions later, dad was ordered to pay support, with no credit for the
$14,000 prior payment. Eventually dad filed a declaratory judgment action, seeking the credit.
Mom objected, wanting the agreement voided as being, inter alia, a conditional order and
against public policy. Held: The parties’ original arrangement will be honored by the court.
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