Edward Snowden completely abandoned girlfriend, says her father

[zeemike]

23. Did they present themselves as a married couple?

If so when?...and to whom?

Common-law marriage (sometimes spelled without a hyphen), and also known as sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute, is an irregular form of marriage that can be legally contracted in an extremely limited number of jurisdictions.

The original concept of a common-law marriage is a marriage that is considered valid by both partners, but has not been formally registered with a state or church registry, or a formal religious service. In effect, the act of the couple representing themselves to others as being married acts as the evidence that they are married. In jurisdictions recognizing common-law marriages, such a marriage is not legally distinct from a traditional ceremonial marriage enacted through a civil or religious ceremony in terms of the couple's rights and obligations to one another.

The term "common-law marriage" is sometimes also used as a synonym for legal agreements including domestic partnerships, reciprocal beneficiaries relationships and non-marital relationship contracts. In these cases, two people live together without considering themselves each other's spouses, but do still create a legal agreement to manage their relationship, obligations to one another or shared assets. In some cases, such partnerships may be created because the couples do not have the ability to marry one another legally. "Common-law marriage" is also often used colloquially or by the media to refer to cohabiting couples, regardless of any rights that these couples may have, which can create public confusion both in regard to the term and in regard to the rights of unmarried partners. [1]