Common law marriages in South Africa?

Here is a quote from a link that may be of assistance.

"We are frequently asked by clients whether, after living together for a certain time period, they are married by common law or not. The only correct answer to such a question is “no”. There is no assumption of marriage in South African law in consequence of cohabitation regardless of the duration of the relationship.

The question which inevitably follows our advise that “common law marriage” is not recognised is, “does any mechanism exist for the division of assets accumulated in a cohabitation situation?” If parties have cohabited and they can prove that a universal partnership exists between them, all property of such a partnership is deemed to be jointly owned by the parties and debts are the joint liability of the parties.

A universal partnership is very much like a business and to prove the existence of such a partnership it must be shown that:

* the aim of the partnership was to make profit;

* both parties must have contributed to the enterprise;

* the partnership must operate to benefit both parties;

* the contract between the parties must be legitimate.

http://www.meumannwhite.co.za/family-law/

The safest way if you want to shack up with someone and not get married is to draw up an agreement that is both legal and binding.....hope this helps.

Well, marriage is a state issue and the national government cant make laws about it, so its really up to each state to define marriage for itself. Only a few states like Massachusetts and New Jersey allow gay marriage, a few allow civil unions between same sex couples. The U.S constitution doesn't define marriage anywhere, because it's not under national jurisdiction, so really there is nothing in U.S national law that prohibits gay marriage. Many states have actually passed amendments to their constitutions that define marriage and prohibit gay marriage, which is bad for us because only a supreme court decision can change an amendment to a constitution. However, the necessary and proper clause of the united states national constitution allows the national government to step in and address "states issues" if they are in violation of peoples rights or are discriminatory on the basis of race, gender, etc... But whether or not defining marriage to a man and a woman is really discriminatory has not been settled yet, so the necessary and proper clause really hasn't been used in this case. I'm not a politics expert or something, but im in a debate society, and this is what i've gathered from hearing numerous debates on the subject, so my information might not be 100%, but im pretty sure i got it mostly right. I hope this helps though and answered your question.

There are rights that a Comman Law Wife has..AFTER staying together for the minimum of ten years. That much I know! (Let me see what I can find)

I deserve the thumbs down...what was I thinking? The laws could not possibly be the same! (But that is what it used to be..living in a marital type relationship, for 10 years and over....you were considered a common law wife)

I got lost here but maybe you will find something

http://www.search.gov.za/info/search.jsp?qa=3&qt=3...

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