A couple does not need a wedding license in every state to be legally married. A valid common-law marriage can count as a marriage for federal tax purposes, including the special IRA rules available to a surviving spouse. The difficult part is not the federal rollover rule. It is proving that a marriage legally existed under the law that governed the relationship when one partner died.

Calling each other husband and wife, living together for many years, or sharing finances does not automatically create a common-law marriage everywhere. Most states do not allow new common-law marriages to be formed. Some recognize older relationships created before a cutoff date. Some recognize a marriage validly formed in another jurisdiction even though they do not permit couples to form one locally. The facts and the relevant state law have to be matched carefully.

Federal tax law starts with whether the marriage was valid

Treasury and IRS regulations define spouses in a gender-neutral way and recognize marriages that are valid under the law of the jurisdiction where the marriage was entered into, subject to the federal rules. IRS guidance also recognizes valid common-law marriages for federal tax purposes. That means a common-law spouse is not a second-class spouse merely because there was no ceremony.

For an inherited IRA, that classification can be decisive. A surviving spouse may have choices unavailable to a child, partner, sibling, or other designated beneficiary, including eligible spouse rollovers and an election to treat a qualifying inherited IRA as the spouse’s own. If the relationship was not legally a marriage, those spouse-only options do not arise simply because the couple functioned like spouses in daily life.

Which jurisdictions currently allow a common-law marriage to be formed?

The Social Security Administration maintains a state-by-state digest because marital status also matters for federal benefits. Current law still recognizes common-law or nonceremonial marriage in Colorado, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Texas, subject to each jurisdiction’s elements. Utah is now transitional: amended Utah Code section 81-2-408 allows a petition to validate an unsolemnized marriage before May 5, 2027, with its own timing and proof requirements. New Hampshire has a distinctive post-death rule for inheritance-related recognition when statutory conditions are met.

That list should be treated as a starting point, not a do-it-yourself marriage test. Some jurisdictions impose age, capacity, holding-out, cohabitation, agreement, filing, or proof requirements. Utah’s 2026 amendment is especially time-sensitive because the statute now contains a May 5, 2027 cutoff for filing the validation petition. Texas has statutory elements and an optional declaration, while Oklahoma’s doctrine remains heavily case-driven. A lawyer licensed in the relevant jurisdiction should confirm the relationship rather than relying on a generic checklist.

Older common-law marriages may remain valid after a state changes its law

Several states abolished the creation of new common-law marriages but preserved relationships validly formed before the change. Alabama, for example, stopped allowing new common-law marriages beginning in 2017 but recognizes qualifying marriages entered into earlier. Other states have their own cutoff dates. The year the relationship allegedly became a marriage can therefore matter as much as the state where the couple lived at death.

This is why an executor should ask for a chronology rather than a yes-or-no answer. Where did the couple live each year? When did they mutually agree to be married, if the state requires such an agreement? How did they present themselves publicly? Were either of them still married to someone else at the time? The legal status may depend on facts that predate the IRA beneficiary designation by many years.

Moving to another state usually does not erase a valid marriage

A marriage validly created in one jurisdiction is generally recognized when the couple later moves, subject to the receiving state’s conflict-of-laws rules and public-policy limits. The SSA state digest specifically tracks recognition questions because a state that does not permit new common-law marriages may still recognize one that was valid where formed. Thus, moving from Colorado to a state that bans local formation does not automatically turn a married couple into unmarried partners.

However, “we used to live in Colorado” is not enough. The couple still must have satisfied Colorado’s requirements while the relationship was governed there. Likewise, if the alleged marriage was formed in a foreign country or tribal jurisdiction, a different recognition analysis may apply. The estate attorney should identify the jurisdiction of formation and gather evidence that satisfies that jurisdiction’s law.

Proof often becomes harder after one spouse has died

Common-law marriage disputes frequently arise only after death, when the person who could best describe the couple’s intent is unavailable. The IRA custodian may ask for documentation before treating the claimant as a surviving spouse. An adverse claimant, estate representative, or family member may also challenge the status if the beneficiary designation or default provision turns on marriage.

Useful evidence can include joint tax returns filed as married, deeds, leases, insurance records, affidavits, bank records, pension documents, correspondence, and consistent public use of marital status. No single item automatically proves a marriage in every state. More important, filing a joint tax return cannot create a marriage that state law did not recognize; it is evidence only if the underlying legal requirements were actually met.

The beneficiary form and marital status answer different questions

Being legally married does not necessarily mean the spouse is the named IRA beneficiary. Traditional and Roth IRAs generally follow the beneficiary designation and custodial agreement, subject to applicable state law. A valid common-law spouse who was not named may have state-law claims in some circumstances, but federal spousal rollover treatment does not itself rewrite the beneficiary form.

Conversely, a named beneficiary who was the owner’s partner but not legally married does not become a “spouse” for federal IRA purposes merely because the form informally says “spouse.” The custodian may pay the person as the designated beneficiary, yet the tax options could still be those of a nonspouse beneficiary. The label on the form cannot manufacture marital status.

Domestic partnerships and civil unions are not automatically marriages

Federal tax regulations distinguish a marriage from a registered domestic partnership, civil union, or similar status that is not denominated as marriage under the governing law. A partner can have extensive state-law rights and still not qualify as a spouse for federal IRA rollover purposes if the legal relationship is not a marriage.

That distinction is especially important for older estate plans. A couple may have registered as domestic partners before marriage equality and never formally converted the relationship. Another couple may have believed long cohabitation created a marriage in a state that does not recognize new common-law marriages. The survivor should verify legal status before selecting a spouse-only custodian form.

What if the IRA owner and survivor lived in different states?

Retirement, temporary moves, military assignments, and long-distance care arrangements can complicate the analysis. The relevant question is generally where and when the marriage was validly entered into or formed, not simply the custodian’s location. Domicile at death can also matter for probate and state-property questions. Multiple states may therefore appear in the file for different legal reasons.

Create a timeline showing residences, dates, prior marriages and divorces, and the point when the couple claims their common-law marriage arose. An attorney can then research the formation state and the recognition law of the state handling the estate. This focused approach is more reliable than searching “does my current state have common-law marriage” and stopping there.

Common-law spouses should resolve status before moving IRA assets

If marital status is uncertain, avoid an irreversible rollover based on an assumption. Ask the custodian what evidence it needs to recognize the survivor as a spouse. Obtain the state-law opinion or court determination if required. At the same time, keep track of any year-of-death RMD and other deadlines so that proving marital status does not cause a separate retirement-account problem.

Once status is established, the spouse can compare the same federal options available to any other legally married surviving spouse. The common-law feature matters at the gateway: whether there is a marriage. It does not create a special class of inherited IRA with different federal RMD tables or a different rollover percentage.

When a court determination may be worth obtaining

If a custodian will not accept the available evidence, the survivor may need a state-court determination of marital status. That step can be especially useful when another beneficiary disputes the marriage or when the state’s common-law test depends heavily on conduct and intent. A judicial order can give the custodian a clearer basis for deciding who is entitled to the account, although it does not replace federal RMD deadlines that continue while the dispute is pending.

Ask counsel whether a declaratory action, probate proceeding, or another state procedure is appropriate. The goal is not to obtain a federal “IRA marriage certificate.” It is to establish the underlying state-law marriage fact that federal tax law then recognizes. Keep the litigation timetable separate from the IRA’s year-of-death and beneficiary distribution calendar so one process does not cause a preventable failure in the other.

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This is general information, not personalized tax or legal advice — a CPA or estate attorney can confirm how this applies to your specific inherited account.