Only about 15 states recognize common law marriage and Texas is one of them. The laws in Texas require only that a couple consider themselves married, present themselves as a husband and wife or file a joint tax return as well as live together in the state of Texas – and they are considered husband and wife under the rules governing common law marriage.
Challenging the Law
The laws are being challenged by a mother in Oregon who wants her son’s remains to be returned to Oregon for burial. His common law wife wants him to be buried near her and their infant daughter. Shawn Michael Freese died on January 14 during a bar fight. He worked as a bouncer at a club near the University of Texas at Austin.
An Iraq veteran, Freese lived with Kimberli Uranga and fathered an infant daughter with her. Uranga has stated in interviews with local newspapers that she often urged Freese to return to Oregon and she planned to go with him. He has an elder daughter located there and she wanted to facilitate a relationship between him and that daughter. He refused to return to Oregon and now she wants to respect those wishes and bury him near her in a place that he loved – Texas.
His Mother
His mother, Cheryl Freese, is fighting against the application of common law marriage in this case. Oregon doesn’t recognize common law marriages. There is a hearing on February 9th where a court will determine if Freese and Uranga met the requirements for a common law marriage and if she has the right to custody of Freese’s body. Until that issue is resolved, Freese’s body is being held by a restraining order at a local funeral home. Freese’s mother believes all that Uranga wants are the veteran’s and social security benefits.
The story is very sad, in my opinion, as the grieving family battles for custodianship of where the young man, an Iraq veteran and a father, should be buried. What do you think should happen in this case? Should his common law wife be allowed to bury him here in Texas or should his mother have the right to bring him home to Oregon?
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