What are my rights if I never married but have lived as husband and wife for 13 years?
Full Question:
I have been with my boyfriend now for 23 years. We have 2 children, a home (that I keep clean )! I do everything. I clean, cook, wash, dinner, tend to the kids etc. We have lived together now for 13 years. If he decides to leave us one day what exactly am I entitled to? The house we live in is in his name, however we shopped together for the home. I'm a stay home mom and he takes care of the bills. A ring was given to me about 5 yrs ago as an engagement but no date was ever set for us to get married. Can he say he never lived with us because he does own a small place in the city, and get away with that? I need to know what my rights are, and do I have any?
11/05/2007 |
Category: Cohabitation |
State: New Jersey |
#11649
Answer:
The following is a New Jersey statute:
37:1-10. Common law and other marriages without license;
validity
Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed or taken to render any
common law or other marriage, otherwise lawful, contracted before
December first, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, invalid by
reason of the failure to take out a license as herein provided.
But no marriage contracted on and after December first, nineteen
hundred and thirty-nine, shall be valid unless the contracting
parties shall have obtained a marriage license as required by
section 37:1-2 of this Title, and unless, also, the marriage,
after license duly issued therefor, shall have been performed by
or before any person, religious society, institution or
organization authorized by section 37:1-13 of this Title to
solemnize marriages; and failure in any case to comply with both
prerequisites aforesaid, which shall always be construed as
mandatory and not merely directory, shall render the purported
marriage absolutely void.