To not be able to believe that intelligent people think that common law marriage still exists?

A true tale:
Parents lived next door to a couple, he was a retired bank manager, so presumably financially savvy, I don't know about his partner. Not married but had lived together for many years. They were in their 60s or 70s. The man died suddenly, no will to be found although his DP thought there was one. House was searched by his children so we will never know the truth and the will had not been registered. DP thought she had common law rights.
Actually DP had no rights at all and to make matters worse, she was disabled and used a wheelchair (house was a bungalow) so DP couldn't move out easily. In the end, his children bought her out, X thousand to leave although technically they didn't have to.
Moral: If you love someone, make a will and register it. Leave a copy with your solicitor.

I spent my entire working life drumming it into my clients that there was no such thing as a common law marriage - but the illusion still persisits.

As I understand it a "common law marriage" dates from colonial times when a couple wanted to get married but couldn't because there was nobody legally empowered to marry them. Just shacking up together is no sort of legal relationship.

Oh and BTW if you're in Scotland, the Court of Session some years back declared marriges "of habit and repute" illegal as well.

Never fails to amaze me, the number of assumptions made by unmarried couples. You have to spell it out, particularly when the woman lives with the man who owns the flat or the house. She is assuming all sorts of rights are accruing and they're definitely completely and absolutely totally not.

Sometimes people believe what they want to believe, and there is no shaking that view.

I back away slowly, smile nicely, and avoid that particular topic in future.

A friend of mine said that because her parents have lived apart for over thirty years, and one of them lives with someone else, that their marriage would have automatically dissolved by now. They never even bothered with a legal seperation.

I agree with you, and I have no idea why some people still think this, unless perhaps they are from other countries where it does apply.

I don't think there has ever been common law marriage in the UK. If there was then why would anyone bother getting married? The protections offered by common law marriage would presumably be almost the same as actual legal marriage or civil partnership in the minds of those who believe it exists. They get a nasty shock when they find out that it is total bollocks - an old wives tale if ever there was one.

Common law marriage does exist in other countries so perhaps people have heard something about it but don’t realise it doesn’t apply in the UK.

Being intelligent and having critical thinking skills are 2 different things.

I'd be surprised by a group of intelligent people all thinking it, but I have seen it posted on Mumsnet quite a few times.

I also think some people get married without fully understanding the legal and financial aspects of what they're doing.