RamboPreacher wrote:interesting.
so, if I understand correctly this cas is about a deputy (woman) that is living with someone (a man?), and she lost her job because of it? I guess I don't understand this. is the law against cohabitation, or does it make them "common-law"-married after some time? not enough information.
He's saying that there's a cohabitation law in NC, a female deputy was shacking, told to marry/leave the guy/get another job (her option, I guess), and she opted to get another job. The law is against cohabitation. Laws like that are ancient, been around for a long time.
However, the above story in the NC case is only part of the whole story. The case went to court, and the NC cohabitation law was declared unconstitutional by the local state trial court, as applied to the deputy in question. I don't think the case is final on appeal within NC, or it wasn't appealed perhaps.
Cohabitation alone never equals common law marriage, by the way. There must be an intent to create a marriage, just as there must be an intent to create a marriage if you go get your license to marry and go stand before a minister and say the "I-dos". In the states that recognize CL marriages, there must be a holding out of yourselves as married, such as referring to each other as married, having joint accounts using the same last name, many other indicators of a married life.
