Common law marriages are not that common anymore in today’s society. A common law marriage is a marriage in which the couple has not received a marriage license from the state, but has lived together for a certain period of time and holds themselves out as being married. In some states, common law marriages are legally binding marriages.
In Florida, before 1968, couples could enter into common law marriages. In 1968, a law passed in Florida that outlawed common law marriages. However, there are still two ways in which you could be considered to be in a common law marriage in Florida. One is if a couple entered into a common law marriage in Florida before 1968. The second is if a couple entered into a common law marriage in a jurisdiction that recognizes common law marriages, and later moved to Florida. In either of those cases, the couple is legally married in Florida.
If a couple is in a common law marriage, and the couple wants to get a divorce in Florida, they have the same rights as other couples who are seeking a divorce in Florida. They can ask the court for child support, alimony, an equitable property division, and everything else that any married couple could seek in a divorce.