South Carolina General Assembly
120th Session, 2013-2014

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S. 11

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Senator L. Martin
Document Path: l:\s-jud\bills\l. martin\jud0010.ba.docx

Introduced in the Senate on January 8, 2013
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Common-law marriage

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  12/13/2012  Senate  Prefiled
  12/13/2012  Senate  Referred to Committee on Judiciary
    1/8/2013  Senate  Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 30)
    1/8/2013  Senate  Referred to Committee on Judiciary 
                        (Senate Journal-page 30)
   1/28/2013  Senate  Referred to Subcommittee: Sheheen (ch), Corbin, 
                        McElveen, Shealy, Thurmond

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/13/2012

(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 TO PROVIDE THAT COMMON-LAW MARRIAGE IN THE STATE MAY NOT BE RECOGNIZED ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2011, AND TO PROVIDE AN EXCEPTION FOR A COMMON-LAW MARRIAGE EXISTING AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2010; 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, 2011, 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, 2010.

(B)    Prior to January 1, 2011, the probate court shall 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    Section 20-1-360 of the 1976 Code is repealed.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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This web page was last updated on Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 3:48 P.M.