Legal Question in Family Law in California

I've told you twice, and I'm going to tell you a third time. Mr. McCormick's advice of just walking away is galactically stupid.

In continuation of my earlier response to you, if either party denies the marriage or refuses to join in a declaration of marriage (Fam. Code, sect. 425), the other may bring an action pursuant to Health & Safety Code section 103450 to have the marriage dtermined and declared. "If either party to a marriage denies the marriage, or refuses to jion in a declaration of the marriage, the other party may proceed, by action pursuant to Section 103450 of the Health and Safety Code, to have the validity of the marriage determined and declared." (Fam. Code, sect. 309.)

YOU ARE MARRIED. As I explained to you in your previous post, the fact that the marriage certificate was not recorded is not grounds for your assumption that you are not legally married. You don't just walk away - you file a petition for dissolution of marriage. You can incorporate the procedure for a declaration of the validity of marriage as part of the proceeding, if you want to press the issue. If you marry again, without terminating your prior marriage by a decree terminating your marital status, your new marriage will be void on the grounds of bigamy. You should terminate your prior marriage by way of dissolution, and although you state you do not have any community property or child support issues, you are advised to terminate her right to seek spousal support.

If you don't agree with my analysis, you should contact a certified family law specialist, who will most likely tell you the same thing.

You could get married because you don't have a license validly recorded, but there is always the risk of being found guilty of the crime of bigamy if your ex-wife decided to try to prove that you had been legally married. To be safe, I would file for divorce.

The galactically stupid attorney here is Mr. Roach, since he apparently is unable even to read the plain language of statutes. Ms. Healy and I are correct. You are not married, but she is correct that you are at risk of having the marriage established. I have no idea what Mr. Roach is saying about Family Code section 425, which provides a method by which you could have completed your marriage without the original license and without going through a new marriage. The Health and Safety Code provision is another way your marriage could be completed, if you or your almost-wife wanted to finalize and enforce it. And that is where there is some risk in my advice that you may be able just to walk away. There is always the theoretical chance that she could come out of the mists of time and file such an action. If you want to eliminate all risk of that, then filing that action yourself, concurrently with a dissolution action would be the "belt and suspenders" way to go. Only you can determine whether you want to play it safe or not. But until an action under that H&S Code provision is conducted, all the legal provisions I can find say Mr. Roach is simply wrong, you are NOT married in the eyes of the law.