2 pages. Excerpt: On November 23, 2004, Governor Rendell signed into law HB 2719, abolishing common law marriage. The new law states that '[n]o common law marriage, contracted after January 1, 2005, shall be valid.' The law further provides that it does not invalidate an otherwise lawful common law marriage contracted on or before that date. As a result, most, but not all of the issues presented by a series of court decisions relating to common law marriage have been resolved.