Common Law and Civil Marriage

 Igros Moshe (EH I #74) Man and woman living together without Chupa and Kiddushin but are only registered with government in a civil ceremony Question Regarding the woman who came from Hungary, which is under the Soviet government, and says that she was living with a man for a long time without a Torah marriage, only what was recorded in the register of the government official in the city which is the standard marriage there. There was no act of acquisition or any symbolic act but only the registration of marriage. Later they agreed to separate and they went to the government office to register their separation and from then on they had nothing to do with each other. Neither knew about Jewish rabbis or Jewish law but conducted themselves in marriage and divorce according to the secular practices of the country which they followed as law abiding citizens. After they separated the man went away and she has no knowledge where he went while she moved to Canada.  The question is whether she is free to get married since she is still young – aside from the issue of aguna that Chazal were greatly concerned for their welfare and there is also concern that she might lead a lawless life Answer And here, if the truth is as she says, there was no act of marriage done, even if it happens that there were kosher witnesses there when they were registered as man and a wife, it is nothing. But the only legal question is if they went lived together as a man and his wife in a place where there are kosher Jews to testify then we might say there is strong presumption that a person does not conduct himself in a lawless manner when it comes to marriage. But this issue is a major dispute amongst the Sages. Consequently in this case where it is clear that she never went to mikve because of Nidah because if she had she would have known about a rabbi or religious Jews and thus she would have had a religious ceremony since there are still a few religious Jews in every Hungarian city. My friend Rav Henkin claims that Jewish halachic marriage is primarily the intent of the woman to be the wife so even when there is no act of acquisition as long as she is brought into his house for the purpose of marriage as we know from their registration of the marriage it is considered a Torah marriage even it is less than a perutah  Even though his explanation  seems logical but it is difficult to justify it from the gemora. Consequently if it is possible to obtain a get it is good to be strict and get one out of concern for the view of Rav Henkin, nevertheless if it is impossible to obtain a get from the husband when his location is unknown she is still free to get married. Furthermore in our case that the civil marriage is dissolved according to the law of the land whenenever they wish to separate from each other, even Rav Henkin would agree that there is no marriage. Nevertheless it is necessary to investigate whether the facts are as she claims since Hungary has only recently become secularized  so it can not be assumed that the new laws and customs have been accepted by all the inhabitants and most have a religious ceremony after the secular one this is true even in places that the communists have ruled for 40 years , so she might be lying about not having a religious ceremony.  .  In fact if she was not known in Canada as being ever married than she is believed, since her testimony is the sole basis that she might be prohibited as a married woman so she would be believed to permit her to get married. However if she is a registered or known communist it is unlikely she had a religious ceremony 

Igros Moshe (IV #81) Question A single woman who came from Russia and lived with a man for about a year after a civil marriage. Answer It has no halachic significance. 1)My view is that the irreligious are not concerned with avoiding fornication even if the lack of concern is the result of ignorance of religious laws and thus there is no intent that intercourse is done with the intent of marriage. And those Jews who came from Soviet Russia the reasoning of Rav Henkin doesn’t apply since they live normally in a licentious manner since there is no concept of marriage as they think that the relationship ends by simply walking away from it for any reason. Sometime the government itself separates a couple if it thinks that the husband and wife needs to work in different cities. Thus the couple is not viewed as actual unit. Therefore if it is difficult to obtain a Get, or there are reasons not to wait for a Get. They are to be viewed as available for marriage. It is self understood there is no need to strive for a heter for to the licentious  and surely not for those lacking in being serious in their commitment to marriage. You should only be interest in helping those who are committed to conduct themselves in the future according to the laws of the Torah and observe Nidah.