Same-sex informal marriage a Texas first
Travis County judge acknowledges pair’s common-law union.
For the first time in Texas history, a same-sex relationship has been recognized as a common-law marriage.
Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman signed a judgment acknowledging that Stella Powell and Sonemaly Phrasavath met the legal requirements to be considered married even though their eightyear relationship did not include a marriage license.
Herman’s order, signed Monday but distributed Tuesday, ended Phrasavath’s quest to have her relationship with Powell, who died last year, recognized as a marriage after Powell’s siblings filed a probate suit stating that she had died single because she could not marry another woman under Texas law.
The ensuing legal fight over Powell’s estate mushroomed from a small family-law dispute into a proxy battle over same-sex marriage that involved gay-rights advocates and was strenuously opposed by Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton is weighing whether to appeal the decision, his office said Tuesday.
“The goal here was always to have Som and Stella treated like any other couple,” said Brian Thompson, lawyer for Phrasavath. “And now we know that other same-sex couples are going to be treated equally, not just in Travis County but now I think we have precedent for the state of Texas.”
Paxton has opposed recognizing the relationship as a common law marriage, arguing that the judge could not make such a ruling in a relationship that ended before the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision that legalized same-sex marriage. Herman rejected Paxton’s arguments and removed him from the case last month.
In Texas, courts can recognize an informal marriage if a couple live together, considers themselves married and present themselves as married, such as introducing each other as a spouse.
Phrasavath argued that she and Powell met the legal requirements, noting that they began dating in 2006 and celebrated a 2008 marriage ceremony that, though not recognized by Texas law, was performed by a Zen Buddhist priest. They also lived openly as spouses in a Northwest Austin home, she said.