This article is reposted from www.ask-roxy.com, a public service blog from the Law Offices of Roxanne Sher Olson (www.roxanneolson.com). Roxanne is an attorney in Santa Cruz, CA. Email your questions to askroxy@roxanneolson.com!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to break the bad news that there is no common law marriage in California. For those of you who don’t know what that is, common law marriage is when simply living together for a certain amount of time and holding each other out to the public as married makes it so.
But it doesn’t in California. Here you must be married to have the rights of a spouse and they are important rights! Spousal support is the first thing, but it isn’t the last. Let’s say snookie-poo and honey-pie are living happily ever after. Who needs legal documents when you have love? They have some kids and snookie-poo decides to stay home for five or six years while the babies are young. After a couple of years they decide their little apartment is cramped and so they go house shopping. What could be more dreamy than two kids playing in the front yard of your very own home?
READ THE REST (AND MY LEGAL DISCLAIMER) AT WWW.ASK-ROXY.COM
