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Under Iowa law, there are 2 ways for a man and woman to be legally married.

1. Apply for a marriage license, have a ceremony with a magistrate, judge, or clergy
2. Marriage by common law

To have a marriage by common law, these 3 things must be true:

1. Man and woman have an agreement that they are married,
2. Man and woman live together continuously as husband and wife, and
3. Man and woman publicly act like a married couple.

An agreement that they are married means:

1. The woman and the man must want to be married to each other, and
2. The woman and man must agree that they are married.

These are not an agreement that they are married:

1. Talking about getting married at a later date,
2. One or both are unsure whether they want to be married.
3. The agreement does not have to be in writing.
4. No spoken agreement is required - just that they are married if they live together like spouses and act like a married couple.

Living together continuously means:

1. Live together as a husband and a wife which generally means that they must have a sexual relationship with each other.
2. No certain amount of time that the people must live with each other.
3. Must live together constantly for some period of time, not just sometimes or on weekends.

Publically acting like a married couple means:

1. Couple must act married,
2. Couple must hold themselves out as married or say that they are married.
3. Examples of acting like a married couple are:
4. Using same last name
5. Wear wedding bands
6. Using "husband" or "wife" to describe the spouse in public
7. Using "Mr. and Mrs." to describe the couple
8. Failing to correct others that call them a married couple
9. Sharing joint bank accounts
10. Sharing joint credit cards
11. Filing joint tax returns (which can only be done if the couple is married)
12. Anything else that would make others believe the couple is married
13. If you don't know if you have a common law marriage, but you don't want to be married, the court can decide whether there is a common law marriage.
14. If there is a common law marriage and the couple does not want to be married, they will have to file for divorce.
15. There is no common law divorce. If you have a common law marriage, to end it you must get a divorce.