Peter and Wendy lived together for ten years. Neither had ever been married before they met each other at a college reunion in 1995. They never participated in a formal marriage ceremony but while on a vacation privately made a personal commitment to each other to be married believing that commitment to be the more important acknowledgment of their relationship. They presented themselves as husband and wife to family, neighbors and friends. They owned a home together and shared all of their expenses. They did not have children but enjoyed their nieces and nephews who called them Uncle Peter and Aunt Wendy. In 2008, Peter died suddenly from a serious heart ailment at the age of 48. Neither Peter nor Wendy had ever executed a will. After his death, Wendy talked to a lawyer to see if she could inherit as Peter's spouse under the state's intestacy law. In order to inherit, Wendy will have to qualify as a spouse. Is Wendy Peter's common law wife? What evidence could a paralegal help gather to document her claim that she is?