California does not recognize common law marriage. Living together for seven years, ten years or thirty years does not make a couple legally married in this state, and no amount of shared bills, shared children or shared last names changes that. California does, however, recognize common law marriages that were validly formed in a state that allows them.
That answer usually surprises people at the worst time: when the relationship ends or a partner dies. Without the default rules of marriage, the partner who earned less, stayed home, or paid into property titled in the other’s name can be left with very little. This guide covers the exceptions, the legal options unmarried couples have when they separate, and the steps that protect California couples who decide not to marry.
Common Law Marriage California Rules at a Glance
How a traditional marriage, a registered domestic partnership, and simply living together compare:
| Issue | Married spouses | Registered domestic partners | Unmarried partners |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community property laws apply | Yes | Yes | No |
| Spousal support available in family court | Yes | Yes | No (only a Marvin contract claim) |
| Inheritance rights without a will | Yes | Yes | No |
| Child custody and child support | Yes | Yes | Yes, once parentage is established |
| Joint federal income tax return | Yes | No | No |
| Court case needed to end it | Yes | Usually | No |
What Common Law Marriage Means
A common law marriage is a marriage created without a license or ceremony. In the states that still allow it, a couple becomes legally married by agreeing to be married, living together, and presenting themselves to the community as spouses. Once formed, it is a real marriage with real consequences, including the need for a real divorce to end it.
California took a different path. Marriage here is a formal legal status, and the Family Code spells out exactly how it is created. State laws on this point vary, so what is true in Colorado or Texas tells you nothing about California.
Why California Law Does Not Recognize Common Law Marriage
California abolished common law marriage in 1895. Since then, only a formal marriage counts.
Family Code section 300 sets the rule. Marriage is a civil contract between two people who consent to it, but consent alone is not enough. Consent must be followed by the issuance of a marriage license and by solemnization, meaning a ceremony performed by someone authorized to perform it. Without the license and the solemnization, there is no marriage, regardless of how the couple lives or what they call each other.
In practice, you are either married with a marriage license and a wedding ceremony, or you are not considered legally married at all. There is no middle category that a couple drifts into over time.
The Seven-Year Myth About California Common Law Marriage
The belief that living together for seven years creates a marriage is one of the most persistent myths in family law, and it has no basis in California law. No number of years converts cohabitation into marriage, and California courts will not treat a cohabiting couple as married because of the calendar.
The Exception for Common Law Marriages From Other States
California does recognize a common law marriage that was validly formed in another state. Family Code section 308 provides that a marriage contracted outside California that is valid under the laws of the place where it was contracted is valid in California.
So common law married couples who formed a valid marriage while living in Texas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Rhode Island or the District of Columbia remain married after moving to Orange County. A few other states, including Oklahoma, Utah and New Hampshire, recognize common law marriage only in limited or disputed circumstances. Couples with a valid out-of-state common law marriage can divorce here, divide community property here, and claim spousal support here, the same as any other married couple.
Two cautions apply. First, the marriage must have satisfied that other state’s requirements while the couple lived there. A weekend visit does not count; what matters is whether that state recognizes the relationship you had while living there. Second, proving the marriage is often the hard part. There is no marriage certificate and no public record, so proof turns on several factors: evidence of the agreement to be married, joint tax returns, insurance designations, leases, and testimony from people who knew the couple as spouses.
The Putative Spouse Doctrine
California protects a person who believed in good faith that they were legally married even though the marriage turned out to be invalid. The putative spouse doctrine, found in Family Code section 2251, covers that situation.
A classic example is a couple who held a wedding ceremony but never actually obtained a license, or a marriage in which one party’s earlier divorce was never finalized. If the court finds that one or both parties believed in good faith that the marriage was valid, it declares that person a putative spouse.
Putative spouse status carries real rights. The court can divide the property acquired during the union as if it were community property, which the Family Code calls quasi-marital property. Under section 2254, the court can also order support for a putative spouse in the same manner as if the marriage had been valid.
The doctrine depends on a genuine, good-faith belief that the marriage was valid. The California Supreme Court has held that the test is subjective: the belief does not have to be objectively reasonable, though the surrounding circumstances are weighed in deciding whether it was honestly held (Ceja v. Rudolph & Sletten, Inc. (2013) 56 Cal.4th 1113). A couple who knowingly skipped the license and the ceremony cannot use it. These cases run through the nullity process, and our guide to annulment in California explains how void and voidable marriages are handled.
Marvin Claims: Property Rights for Unmarried Couples
When an unmarried couple separates, there is no community property to divide and no spousal support to award. That does not always mean the partner who earned less walks away with nothing, and it is where palimony rights come from.
In Marvin v. Marvin (1976) 18 Cal.3d 660, the California Supreme Court ruled that unmarried partners can enforce contracts with each other about property and financial support. The agreement can be express, meaning a written contract or a spoken promise, or an implied agreement shown by the couple’s conduct. The press called it palimony, and the label stuck.
What a Marvin Claim Can Provide
A successful Marvin claim can result in a share of property acquired during the relationship, reimbursement for contributions, or the right to receive support, depending on what the partners agreed to. The remedy follows the agreement, so the terms of the promise matter more than the length of the relationship.
What a Marvin Claim Requires
You must prove an agreement. That is the central limitation. Living together, sharing expenses and raising children together do not by themselves create a right to property or support. The claimant has to show that the partners agreed, in words or by conduct, to share income, to share property, or to provide support.
Agreements based on sexual services as the consideration are not enforceable. Agreements based on homemaking, companionship, giving up a career, or contributing labor or money to a partner’s business can be.
A Marvin claim is a civil claim, filed in the civil division rather than family court, and it is subject to civil statutes of limitations. Evidence is everything: texts, emails, joint accounts, title documents, and witnesses who heard the promises.
What Unmarried Couples Do Not Get in California
Because there is no legally recognized marriage, unmarried partners have limited rights and no automatic rights of the kind married couples receive. The gaps are worth listing plainly.
No Community Property
Married couples in California share equally in property acquired during the marriage, and a court will divide property under the community property laws at divorce. For unmarried couples there is no automatic asset division: each partner keeps whatever is in their own name. A house titled to one partner belongs to that partner, even if the other paid half the mortgage for a decade, unless a Marvin agreement or a separate property claim can be proven.
No Spousal Support
Courts award spousal support only in a dissolution, legal separation or nullity case. An unmarried partner cannot ask the family court for support at the end of the relationship. The only route to support is a Marvin contract claim in civil court.
No Automatic Inheritance
If a partner dies without a will or trust, California’s intestacy rules pass the estate to a surviving spouse, registered domestic partner, children or other relatives. An unmarried partner is not on that list and can be left with nothing, including the home they lived in for years.
No Spousal Benefits
Social Security spousal and survivor benefits are tied to a legal marriage or a registered partnership that Social Security recognizes; an informal cohabiting couple has no claim. Unmarried partners also miss certain tax benefits of marriage, starting with the joint federal tax return. Many employer health plans, pension survivor options and military and veterans benefits are limited to spouses, though some employers extend coverage to domestic partners.
No Default Medical Authority
Hospitals and doctors look to a spouse or a legally designated agent for decisions when a patient cannot speak. Without an advance health care directive naming the partner, an unmarried partner can be sidelined by the patient’s parents or adult children.
What Unmarried Couples Do Get
Some of the most important legal rights do not depend on marriage at all.
Child Custody and Child Support for Unmarried Parents
California custody and child support law does not depend on whether the parents were married. The same laws apply to every child, and once parentage is established, both parents have the same rights and duties. Custody is decided under the best interest of the child standard, and child support is calculated with the same statewide guideline formula that applies to divorcing parents.
For unmarried parents, the first step is establishing parentage, either by signing a Voluntary Declaration of Parentage, typically at the hospital, or through a court case. Doing it early, before any dispute, saves a later fight over who the parents are. When there is a dispute, a parent files a Petition to Determine Parental Relationship (form FL-200), and the court can then make custody, visitation and support orders. Our Orange County paternity lawyer page explains the process, and this guide covers how child custody is decided in California.
Rights in Jointly Owned Property
If both names are on the deed or the bank account, both partners own it. Co-owners of real estate who cannot agree on what to do with it can file a partition action, in which a court orders the property sold or divided and accounts for each owner’s contributions. Title, not the relationship, controls.
Domestic Violence Protection
California’s Domestic Violence Prevention Act covers cohabitants, former cohabitants, and people in dating relationships. An unmarried partner can seek a domestic violence restraining order on the same terms as a spouse.
Registered Domestic Partnership: The Formal Alternative
A couple that wants legal protection without a marriage license has a formal option in California: a registered domestic partnership.
Under Family Code section 297, two adults can register a domestic partnership with the California Secretary of State if neither is married or in another partnership, they are not closely related by blood, both are at least 18, and both are capable of consenting. Since January 1, 2020, registration has been open to any couple who meets those requirements, regardless of sex. Before that change, it was limited to same-sex couples and to couples in which at least one partner was 62 or older.
Registration is not a minor step. Family Code section 297.5 gives registered domestic partners the same rights, protections and benefits, and the same responsibilities and obligations, as spouses under California law. That includes community property, spousal support rights, intestate inheritance, and, in most cases, the need to go through a court dissolution to end the partnership. A short partnership with no children, no real property and limited assets and debts can sometimes be ended by filing a Notice of Termination with the Secretary of State under Family Code section 299. Our guide to ending a registered domestic partnership walks through that process.
Two limits are worth knowing. State registration does not make the couple married for federal tax purposes, so registered partners still cannot file joint federal returns. Social Security is different: because California registered domestic partners inherit as spouses under state law, the Social Security Administration generally treats a California registered domestic partnership as a marriage when deciding spousal and survivor benefits. And the protection is only as good as the paperwork: an unregistered couple who simply call themselves domestic partners has none of these rights.
How to Protect Yourselves Without Getting Married
Couples who choose not to marry or register can still close most of the gaps with a few documents. Married couples get a default set of rules for free; unmarried couples have to write their own, and doing so is far cheaper than litigating a Marvin claim later.
Sign a Cohabitation Agreement
A written cohabitation agreement is a binding contract that sets out who owns what, how expenses are shared, what happens to jointly acquired property if the relationship ends, and whether one partner will support the other. It is the unmarried equivalent of a prenuptial agreement, it gives both partners a clear understanding of the deal, and it turns an uncertain Marvin claim into an enforceable contract. The drafting principles in our guide to prenuptial agreements in California apply here too: full disclosure, independent review, and no pressure.
Put Title Where You Mean It
If you intend to own a home together, take title together, and decide deliberately between joint tenancy and tenancy in common. If one partner contributes a down payment, document it. Keep separate accounts separate, and keep records of who paid for what.
Write a Will, Trust and Powers of Attorney
If a partner dies, the unmarried survivor inherits only what an estate plan gives them. A will or living trust, plus updated beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance, is the only reliable way to provide for a partner. An advance health care directive lets your partner make medical decisions, and a durable power of attorney for finances lets them handle accounts if you become incapacitated.
What Happens When an Unmarried Couple Separates
When the relationship ends, a long unmarried couple faces the same practical questions as a divorce, but the legal process is different.
There is no petition for dissolution, because there is no marriage to dissolve. Custody, visitation and child support run through a parentage case in family court. Property disputes over jointly titled assets run through partition or contract claims in civil court. Any claim for support or for a share of property titled in the other partner’s name runs through a Marvin claim, also in civil court.
That split, family court for the children and civil court for the money, catches people off guard. There are no automatic restraining orders on transferring property when a cohabitation ends, so a partner who is worried about accounts being drained should act quickly.
If you are separating and were never married, secure your children’s legal position first, protect assets titled in your name, gather every document that shows what you agreed to, and ask a family lawyer whether a Marvin claim is realistic given your evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Do You Have to Live Together to Be Common Law Married in California?
No length of time creates a common law marriage in California. It was abolished in 1895, and a couple who lives together for any number of years remains unmarried unless they obtain a license and hold a ceremony.
What Rights Do Unmarried Couples Have in California?
Unmarried couples have full parental rights once parentage is established, ownership rights in property titled in their names, protection under the domestic violence laws, and the right to enforce contracts with each other, including Marvin agreements. They do not have community property rights, spousal support rights, or automatic inheritance rights.
What Is the 7-Year Rule in California?
For marriage, there is none. Living together for seven years does not create a marriage or any right to support or property. The idea is a myth borrowed from the states that recognize common law marriage, and even those states do not use a seven-year test.
What Is the 10-Year Rule in California for Marriage?
The 10-year rule has nothing to do with common law marriage. It refers to Family Code section 4336, under which a marriage of 10 years or more is presumed to be a marriage of long duration for spousal support purposes, so the court keeps jurisdiction over support indefinitely. Only legally married couples can rely on it. See our Orange County spousal support attorney page for how support is decided.
Who Can Register as Domestic Partners in California?
Any two consenting adults age 18 or older who are not married or partnered to anyone else and not closely related by blood can register. Registered partners have the same rights and obligations as married spouses under California law, so a breakup is handled much as it is for traditionally married couples.
Is a Common Law Marriage From Texas Valid in California?
Yes, if it was validly formed under Texas law while the couple lived there. California recognizes marriages that were valid where they were contracted, including common law marriages. The couple would need a California divorce to end it.
What Is It Called When You Live Together for 10 Years but Are Not Married?
In California, the couple is simply unmarried cohabitants, sometimes called unmarried partners. Ten years of living together does not create a marriage, and the partners have none of the default rights of spouses unless they register a domestic partnership or prove a Marvin agreement.
Can My Partner Get Palimony If We Break Up?
Only if they can prove an express or implied agreement that you would support them or share property. Cohabitation alone is not enough. Palimony claims are civil contract cases, not family law cases.
What States Have Palimony?
Palimony is a contract claim rather than a statute in most places, and the rules differ from state to state. California enforces express and implied agreements under Marvin. Some other states are stricter: New Jersey and Minnesota, for example, generally enforce these support or property promises only when they are in writing. If you live in California, California law controls.
Does a Cohabitation Agreement Hold Up in Court?
A properly drafted cohabitation agreement is an enforceable contract. It should be in writing, signed by both partners, and made with full disclosure. Agreements based on sexual services as consideration are not enforceable.
Talk to an Orange County Family Law Attorney
The rules for unmarried couples in California are less forgiving than most people expect, and the fixes are much easier before a breakup than after one.
Our Tustin and Placentia offices handle paternity and parentage, property division and the dissolution of registered domestic partnerships throughout Orange County. Learn more about our family law attorneys, or contact our office to discuss your situation.
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Nor is it tax advice. California family law changes, outcomes depend on the specific facts of each case, and reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult a qualified California family law attorney about your circumstances.
