Friends with Benefits or Common Law Marriage?

The Rhode Island Supreme Court found that the Plaintiff, Sofya M. Zharkova, did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that her living arrangement  with Gaudreau was a common-law marriage.  In contrast, the Court accepted the lower court’s findings that the arrangement was more credibly a Friends-With-Benefits arrangement.  Points observed included that the parties did not have joint bank accounts, that the defendant often referred to Sofya as his girlfriend and at times as FWB.   While the couple owned their home as tenants in entirety and have filed several tax returns as husband and wife, the lower court found credible that the tax returns reasoning was based on economics and the tenants in entirety was based a blizzard of paperwork signed during the closings.  The Rhode Island Supreme Court did not upset the lower court’s findings.  Entire opinion can be read at: Zharkova v. Gaudreau, 11-295