MCLE Article: What it Takes To Be A Putative Spouse in California and Its Benefits: Part II -Voidable Marriages

Judge Mark Juhas

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark A. Juhas has presided in family court since he was appointed to the bench in 2002. He also chairs the California Commission on Access to Justice and teaches extensively in the areas of family law, self-represented litigants and access to justice.

Check the end of this article for information on how to access 1 hour of Legal Specialization in Family Law and 1 hour of general self-study credits.

n Part One of this article, I discussed the concept of void marriages. A void marriage is just that; void from the inception, allowing for no legal rights for either party¹ Under the law, void marriages are limited to bigamy and incest. In this installment, I will explore "voidable" marriages. Those are marriages that suffer from a defect at the start but can be "fixed" with the passage of time or the occurrence of other factors. Just like void marriages, even if a voidable marriage is ultimately determined to be void, the parties may be putative spouses that might give one or both of them the property and support protections found in the Family Code.