Court Opinion

ID: 9766119
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:33:04.735877+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:55.435635
License: Public Domain

NIGRO, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the Majority Opinion. However, I would go one step further and advocate the abolition of common law marriage in this Commonwealth, thereby joining the majority of jurisdictions which have recognized the inappropriateness of such an ancient convention in modern times.1
*267I commend to the attention of the Majority the language of the judiciary of sister states urging the abolition of common law marriage.
For example, in the District of Columbia:
[S]uch a status is the product of an antiquated law and inattention to whether there is a need for a change. We ... question whether such an informal and almost uniformly misunderstood status should not be abolished to end creation of such relationships in the future. The considerations which history teaches gave rise to judicial recognition of such informal and unrecorded marital agreements can hardly justify modern day perpetuation. Cost is certainly not prohibitory, and a plethora of public and quasi-public officials are available to solemnize such an important and socially significant occasion. Certainly no one would contend that facilities for recordation are unavailable. Indeed, one might question whether any valid reason exists to encourage and sanction future circumvention of the established and salutary system for formalizing and recording marriages.
Johnson v. Young, 372 A.2d 992, 995-96 (D.C.1977) (citing McCoy v. District of Columbia, 256 A.2d 908, 910 (D.C.1969)).
In Arkansas, the Supreme Court noted that:
The pioneer conditions which fostered common-law marriage in the United States have disappeared.... The clerk’s office is available to all, and none are beyond the sound of church bells. If reason be the life of the law it would appear wise to abolish common-law marriage everywhere in the United States by individual action in the several states in which it still enjoys a tenuous hold, for its continuance seems to promise more abuse than use.
Orsbmm et al. v. Graves, 213 Ark. 727, 732, 210 S.W.2d 496, 498 (1948).
And in Ohio:
The days of the walking preacher and of the bishop on horseback are long gone. As was stated in In re Estate of Maynard [111 Ohio App. 315, 192 N.E.2d 281 (1962)], ...: *268‘Is it not an amazing fact, that, in a matter which so profoundly affects the dignity and stability of a family institution, society would be slow to take enlightened action? Surely, no legislative reform is more needed than clear and positive statutes declaring such loosely contracted unions null and void.’
Nestor v. Nestor, 15 Ohio St.3d 143, 149-50, 472 N.E.2d 1091, 1097 (1984)(Brown, J., dissenting).
More recently, New Jersey reiterated the underlying rationale for the abolishment of common-law marriage:
Inherent in the common law marriage are a non-recognition of the legal process, and a lack of commitment which often gives rise to an impermanent and ephemeral arrangement, such that economic support, let alone dependency, may be withheld randomly. The union, which in the eyes of the public remains an uncertainty, may dissolve at any time.
Dunphy v. Gregor, 136 N.J. 99, 120, 642 A.2d 372, 382 (1994).
And, New York reminded us of the impetus behind its abolishment of common law marriage more than six decades ago:
The consensus was that while the doctrine of common law marriage could work substantial justice in certain cases, there was no built-in method for distinguishing between valid and specious claims and, thus, that the doctrine served the state poorly.
Morone v. Morone, 50 N.Y.2d 481, 489, 429 N.Y.S.2d 592, 413 N.E.2d 1154, 1157 (1980).
Thus, as marriage is necessarily an affirmative act, and ancient impediments no longer pertain, I would advocate the abolishment of common law marriage in Pennsylvania so that official records, and not the courts, may determine if and when the parties were married.
CASTILLE, J., joins in this Concurring Opinion.

. E.g., the following states are among those which had recognized common law marriage and have since abolished it: California (1895); Illinois (1905); Wisconsin (1917); Missouri (1921); Nebraska (1923); New York (1933); New Jersey (1939); Minnesota (1941); Nevada (1942); Mississippi (1956); Michigan (1957); South Dakota (1959); Florida (1968); Indiana (1986).