Legal-Ease: Starting and ending marriages

Lee R. Schroeder is an Ohio licensed attorney with Schroeder Law LLC in Ottawa. He limits his practice to business, real estate, estate planning and agriculture issues in northwest Ohio. He can be reached at lee@leeschroeder.com or at (419) 523-5523. This article is not intended to serve as legal advice, and specific advice should be sought from the licensed attorney of your choice based upon the specific facts and circumstances that you face.

There are a number of laws in place in the state of Ohio in relation to starting and ending a marriage. Ending a marriage is often more complicated than starting a marriage in the state of Ohio.

In Ohio, males at least age 18 and females at least age 16 can marry. Second cousins and people more distantly related than second cousins may marry each other. Second cousins are children of people who are first cousins. For example, I could not marry my cousin. However, I could marry my dad’s first cousin’s daughter.

Common law marriage involves unmarried people living together as if they were married for a period of several years, and thereafter being treated as legally married. The cohabitation requirement has varied by state, but it has usually been no fewer than 10 years. Since 1991, Ohio has not recognized new common law marriages, essentially ending common law marriage in Ohio.

Read Lee’s full post regarding starting and ending marriages in Ohio here: Legal-Ease: Starting and ending marriages

Source: LimaOhio.com, “Legal-Ease: Starting and ending marriages,” by Lee R. Schroeder, October 10, 2015

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