The recent Pennsylvania Superior Court case of Moser v. Renninger , 2012 Pa. Super. 59, 1037 MDA 2011 (March 6, 2012), provides a reminder to family law practitioners that a declaratory judgment that does not end litigation is interlocutory and unappealable. The Moser case also provides a refresher regarding common law marriage.
According to the opinion, the following, in part, are the relevant facts in the Moser case: Betty A. Moser filed a divorce complaint against Ronald Renninger Sr. on Nov. 19, 2010, and alleged that she and Renninger were married on Aug. 27, 1982. Thereafter, on March 3, 2011, Moser filed a motion to amend her divorce complaint “indicating, inter alia, that the parties entered into a valid common law marriage.” Moser indicated that “although the parties began cohabitating on August of 1982, their common law marriage commenced on June 8, 1985, when the parties exchanged verba in praesenti.”
