South Carolina General Assembly
118th Session, 2009-2010

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H. 3167

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Whipper, Harrison, Brady, Littlejohn and H.B. Brown
Document Path: l:\council\bills\ms\7095ahb09.docx
Companion/Similar bill(s): 426

Introduced in the House on January 13, 2009
Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Common law marriage

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  12/16/2008  House   Prefiled
  12/16/2008  House   Referred to Committee on Judiciary
   1/13/2009  House   Introduced and read first time HJ-75
   1/13/2009  House   Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-75

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/16/2008

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 20-1-110 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT COMMON LAW MARRIAGE IN THE STATE MAY NOT BE RECOGNIZED ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2010, AND TO PROVIDE AN EXCEPTION FOR A COMMON LAW MARRIAGE EXISTING AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2009; AND TO REPEAL SECTION 20-1-360 RELATING TO THE VALIDITY OF A MARRIAGE CONTRACTED WITHOUT THE ISSUANCE OF A LICENSE.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Article 1, Chapter 1, Title 20 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 20-1-110. (A)    A common law marriage in this State must not be recognized after January 1, 2010, unless it is established, by a preponderance of the evidence in a court of competent jurisdiction, that the common law marriage existed as of December 31, 2009.

(B)    Before January 1, 2010, the probate court, in its discretion, may waive the marriage license application fee for parties who are in a common law marriage as attested to in a form affidavit provided to the parties by the probate court."

SECTION    2.    Section 20-1-360 of the 1976 Code is repealed.

SECTION    3.    Except as otherwise provided for in this act, this act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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