A woman sought to be recognized as a common-law spouse of a deceased on the grounds that she and him had lived together as husband and wife for several years until his demise, and thus be recognized as his heir.
The Court refused to acknowledge the woman as a common-law spouse. Common-law spouses are spouses who have decided to bind their fates together and maintain a common lifestyle as married spouses for all intents and purposes, but refrained from formalizing their marital relationship in a religious or civil marriage. The two threshold conditions for the existence of a "common-law spouses" relationship are: family life consisting of an intimate life, based on relationships of affection and love and loyalty that express the couple's shared fate. Signs the existence of these conditions are a significant period of shared life, running a joint household, which involves sharing a place to live, eating, drinking, sleeping, clothing and the other necessities that a person needs in our day-to-day life, with each spouse receiving what they need and contributing according to their ability and possibilities. Here, no joint bank account was maintained, the two were not registered with the various authorities as a couple, no joint fund was maintained and they were not financially together, but only that the deceased rented a room in the woman's apartment. Therefore, the woman is not deemed to have been a common-law spouse and the deceased's children are the heirs.