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I thnk a few states still recognize common law marriage. In any case, even in states that "unrecognized" it, they only insisted on ceremonial weddings prospectively and the old laws apply to common law marriages already in existence. And if a common law marriage is established in a state that still recognizes it, and then the couple moves to another state, the second state is bound (by the Full Faith and Credit clause) to recognize the marriage even if it wouldn't if it wouldn't allow people to commence a common law marriage in its own territory.
The requirement that even common law marriages require a real court divorce to be dissolved, that there is no "common law divorce", is something I thought was noteworthy and I pass it along as an interesting tidbit. It is very real law and plenty of court cases (negating subsequent attempts to marry by someone who already was in a common law marriage and didn't get a proper divorce) demonstrating it. Similarly, a common law marriage cannot be established in a couple that is ineligible to have a ceremonial marriage (e.g., underage, consanguinous, already married - even in another common law marriage, etc.).
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