Common-Law Marriage After Death: How His Mother's Ring Proved a Marriage

When someone dies, the person they lived with may say, "We were married. We just never got a license." Texas recognizes informal, or common-law, marriage. But proving it after one partner has died raises a problem: the only other person who heard the two of them agree to be married can no longer testify. A December 2025 Texas appeals case shows how courts handle that.

What happened

Bryan Davidson of Galveston County died in January 2021 at 62. He left three adult sons, an ex-wife, Debbie, and Sherry Myers, who had been in a relationship with him since 2001.

His sons found a copy of a will Bryan had signed in 2002, while he was still married to Debbie, and asked the probate court to admit it. Sherry objected. She said she and Bryan had been informally married, that he had revoked the 2002 will, and that she was his surviving spouse.

What a common-law marriage requires

Under Texas Family Code § 2.401, a person claiming an informal marriage must prove three things:

The couple agreed to be married.
After that, they lived together in Texas as spouses.
They represented to others in Texas that they were married.

All three have to exist at the same time. The person claiming the marriage has the burden of proving it.

The evidence on both sides

For Sherry. Sherry testified that in September 2014, after Bryan's divorce from Debbie became final, the two of them talked and agreed they were now "common law" and together, and promised each other faithfulness in their own colorful words. Bryan's father testified that he heard Bryan call Sherry "little wife," that he introduced them as his son and daughter-in-law without either one correcting him, and that Bryan gave Sherry his late mother's wedding ring. Sherry's father, her daughter, a neighbor, and Bryan's sisters gave similar testimony. One sister said the couple's plans for a formal wedding were on hold because of Bryan's health.

Against her. Bryan's sons offered a different picture. On a 2020 beneficiary form for a financial account, Bryan listed Sherry as his "Girlfriend." His Social Security statement and car insurance cards didn't mention her. Friends, a cousin, and Debbie said they never heard him call her his wife. And about two months before he died, when Debbie texted him asking whether he and Sherry were married, Bryan answered, "Hell no."

The couple had also lived apart for about 16 months after Hurricane Harvey damaged their property in 2017.

The Dead Man's Rule

The sons' main argument was the Dead Man's Rule, Texas Rule of Evidence 601(b). In a case by or against a deceased person's heirs that is based on something the deceased person said, a party generally can't testify against the other side about what the deceased person said, unless that testimony is corroborated by other evidence.

The sons argued that Sherry's account of the agreement was exactly that kind of testimony, with nothing to back it up. Without it, there was no evidence of an agreement to be married, and no marriage.

The court disagreed. Corroboration doesn't have to prove the point on its own. It only has to tend to confirm the testimony and show it is probably true. Evidence of the deceased person's conduct that is consistent with what he is said to have said is enough. Here, three witnesses (Bryan's father, Sherry's daughter, and a family friend) testified that Bryan gave Sherry his mother's wedding ring. As the family friend put it, you don't give someone your mother's ring unless it's a serious promise.

That was enough to let Sherry's testimony in. The court also noted that contrary evidence, like the "Hell no" text and the "Girlfriend" form, doesn't make corroboration disappear. It just creates a conflict for the judge to resolve.

What the courts decided

After a trial before the judge, the probate court found that more of the evidence supported a common-law marriage than not, and declared Sherry to be Bryan's surviving spouse. On December 23, 2025, the First Court of Appeals in Houston affirmed. The judge who heard the witnesses decides whom to believe, and an appeals court won't substitute its own view where the evidence conflicts.

The 2002 will didn't survive either. The sons had only a copy, and the probate court found they had not overcome the presumption that Bryan revoked his original will. The sons didn't appeal that part. So Bryan's heirs will be decided in an heirship proceeding, with Sherry as his surviving spouse.

What this means for families

A common-law marriage can be proved after death. No license, ceremony, or certificate is required, and the surviving partner's own testimony can count, if something else backs it up.
The backup can be ordinary. A ring, how the couple introduced each other, how family members treated them. Corroboration doesn't need a document.
Paperwork isn't decisive. A form that says "girlfriend," or even a text saying "Hell no," didn't settle the question here. The judge weighed it against everything else.
Living apart for a while didn't end it. Texas courts have held that living together doesn't have to be continuous.
These cases turn on witnesses. Who heard what, and when, matters. If you expect a dispute over whether a relationship was a marriage, write down the names of people who saw how the couple lived and what they called each other.

Whether a common-law marriage existed can change who inherits, and it often comes down to whom the judge believes.